PARK AND CEMETERY, 
4 86 - 
is done the Commissioners meet and certify 
a list to tlie Receiver of Taxes, on which 
are ?iven the names of the owners in front 
of whose property trees w’ere set out and 
the cost of the work. These assessments 
are entered by the Receiver of Taxes on 
the annual tax bill and are paid the same 
as any other legal Hen. The cost of prun- 
ing, spraving, removing dead trees and re- 
pairing old ones is provided for by a general 
appropriation. 
Amendments of the years of 1905 and 1906 
to the New Jersey act of 1903, give' the 
Shade Tree Commissions the power to pass, 
enact, alter and amend and' repeal ordinances 
relating to the planting, protefction, regula- 
tion and control of shade trees and to pre- 
scribe fines and penalties for the violation 
thereof. These amendments also provide 
that the parks in cities having Shade Tree 
Commissions shall be placed under their 
control. These provisions are also embodied 
in the Pennsylvania act of 1907. The Shade 
Tree Commissions of East Orange and New- 
ark have passed ordinances relating to trees 
and these are being enforced in the two 
cities. These ordinances among other things 
provide that no person shall without the 
written permit of the Shade Tree Commis- 
sion, cut, prune, break, climb, injure or re- 
move any living tree on a public highway; 
or cut, disturb or interfere in any way with 
the roots of any tree. No tree can be 
planted on a public highway unless such 
tree has been approved, the place where It 
is to be planted designated by the Shade 
Tree Commission, and a permit granted 
therefor. The ordinances prohibit the tying 
of animals to trees and provide that in the 
erection or repair of any building the owner 
thereof shall place such guards around all 
nearby trees on the public highway as shall 
prevent injury to them. They also provide 
that no person shall without w'ritten per- 
mission attach any electric wire, insulator 
or any device for the holding of an electric 
wdre to any tree growing on any highway, 
and that every person or corporation hav- 
ing wires charged with electricity running 
through a public highway shall on proper 
notice temporarily remove such wires when 
it shall be necessary to prune or remove any 
trees. A penalty is imposed for the viola- 
tion of any section of the ordinances. 
These ordinances have been extremely ef- 
ficient in securing the protection of shade 
trees. They do away entirely with the 
abuses of public utilities corporations who 
in the past have so ruthlessly mutilated and 
destroyed trees along highways for the pas- 
sage of overhead wares. In fact some of the 
important work of a Shade Tree Commis- 
sion having the necessary authority by law, 
is to protect the trees already existing in 
a city. 
It becomes apparent to anyone who is en- 
gaged in tree work that there exists an in- 
tense love for trees in every man, woman 
and child. That love, however, is not al- 
ways accompanied by a knowledge of what 
species of trees are best suited for plant- 
ing, how to plant these trees and to care 
for them. A review of the work done in 
cities of the State of New Jersey will show 
that no such good results could possibly 
have been accomplished by individual plant- 
ing and care of trees. In the cities of our 
state where the best results have been at- 
tained since their trees have been placed 
in the hands of commissioners are East 
Orange and Newark. 
The Commission in our city began active 
w'ork in the spring of 1904. Since that time 
about 2,700 trees have been planted. The 
species used were the Norway maple, the 
sugar maple, the red maple, the European 
linden, the American linden, the pin oak, 
the red oak, the Oriental plane, the ginkgo, 
and the ash. Only one species of tree was 
planted on a .street. These w^ere set at uni- 
form distances apart averaging about 38 
feet, and all trees were supplied with wire 
guards. The advantages of such a system 
of planting can be readily seen. In selecting 
the proper species of tree for street use, 
hardy trees are taken, of symmetrical shape, 
of well-filled head, neither too open nor too 
compact. By placing the trees at proper 
distances apart on the street, each tree is 
allowed to develop its characteristic beauty 
and when mature there is sufficient space 
betw’een the outstretching limbs for the ad- 
mission of light and free circulation of air. 
Streets that have become famous for their 
beautiful shade trees both in this country 
and abroad ar^ planted with one species of 
tree. This plan is followed in Washington 
where some of its most notable streets are 
East Capitol street, planted with American 
elms, Indiana avenue, planted with Oriental 
planes, Massachusetts avenue, planted with 
American lindens, and other streets. I have 
a number of slides made from my own pho- 
tographs which will help me to illustrate 
some of the points in the planting and care 
of trees. 
Setting out one species of tree on a street 
can be done only when one man or one body 
lays out the street as a unit and selects a 
tree that is best adapted for the width of 
the street, the conditions of the soil and the 
nearness of the houses to the street line. 
By placing guards around all trees when 
they are set out. all injury from horse bites 
is prevented. Such a system has been fol- 
lowed in East Orange in N. 18th street, 
planted w'ith Norway maples; Norwood 
street, planted with Oriental planes. These 
streets show in the most characteristic way 
what can be accomplished by municipal au- 
thorities when they have the control of 
street trees. Both of these streets are such 
as are typical of any of the recently devel- 
oped suburban towns. The houses are rather 
close together, there is not much of a front 
lawn; but the uniformly planted trees re- 
lieve the perspective of the street. 
The first cost of planting shade trees is 
very small compared with the other as- 
sessments for street improvements. It costs 
the abutting property owners on the average 
about $3.85 per running foot for the macad- 
amizing of a street having a thirty foot 
roadway, for the guttering, curbing and 
laying of a four foot sidewalk. The distance 
at which street trees are set is about forty 
feet. Last year the assessments of the 
Shade Tree Commission of East Orange for 
furnishing and properly planting a tree, 
staking it and supplying it with a wire 
guard were $3.75 per tree. This makes the 
tree assessment less than two and one-half 
per cent of the cost of the improvement 
of the roadway proper. While the use of the 
road w'lll cause it to deteriorate and it wall 
need repairs, the trees when properly cared 
for will thrive and grow. Their first cost 
of setting out will become insignificant com- 
pared with their increased value a number 
of years after planting. 
The choice of the proper species of tree 
becomes an important factor in contributing 
to the beauty of the street. Ordinarily when 
a man goes to a nursery to buy a tree he 
says, “I want a tree that will grow rapidly 
and give immediate shade.” The result is 
that the nurseryman will give him a Caro- 
lina poplar or white maple, which are the 
most undesirable shade trees for street use. 
Their planting is usually prohibited in cities 
having Shade Tree Commissions. The Caro- 
lina poplar grows very rapidly, in fact. In 
a short time it becomes too large for the 
average street. As a result it is repeatedly 
cut back in order to force it to assume a 
medium size head. The planter tries to 
counteract, shortly after planting, the very 
characteristic which recommended its first 
choice as a shade tree. The result is an 
abnormal tree with a thick trunk and a 
small head. When this pruning continues 
with a great degree ‘ of severity the poplar 
becomes ugly and repulsive. The roots of 
the poplar are also an undesirable feature; 
for the fine rootlets fill up sewer pipes and 
stop the flow of water and the larger roots 
lift up flags and put the curbing out of 
line. 
In the matter of the choice of trees there 
is a popular notion that oaks grow slowly 
and for that reason these trees are not 
planted. People will say that it takes a 
life time for an oak to reach any consid- 
erable size. Such an idea is easy to over- 
come by showing what oaks will do when 
properly planted and cared for. Some of 
the finest streets in the City of Washington. 
are planted with oaks, notably Pennsylva- 
nia avenue, planted with pin oaks, and 
Twelfth street, planted with pin oaks four 
years ago and they have grown in many 
cases even more rapidly than the other spe- 
cies with the exception of the Oriental 
plane. 
There are about seventy miles of streets 
in East Orange. The trees on about 40 
miles of these streets were pruned under 
the direction of the Shade Tree Commission 
since its organization. In this work, too, 
the street was treated as a unit. All trees 
were pruned to a uniform height, a height 
that would permit the unimpeded passage 
of vehicles and would allow all street lights 
to be seen at night. 
Few things are more important in the 
care of trees than proper pruning. The cut 
should be made close to and even with the 
trunk. When pruning is properly done the 
scar will heal. When short stumps are left 
they dry and rot, prevent the wound from 
healing and carry decay into the tree. 
A matter that is neglected when trees 
are left to the individual to look after is 
the placing of guards around them. Of all 
mechanical injuries to shade trees those by 
horses are most fatal. On any street hav- 
ing trees may be found scores of examples 
of trees which had been barked by horses. 
The annual layers of wood fail to cover 
up the portion where the bark had been 
stripped. The exposed wood dries, checks 
moisture, causes it to rot and the decay 
is soon carried to the heart of the tree. 
Newly planted trees in East Orange are 
provided with uniform wire guards and the 
trees are staked to keep them upright until 
the roots take firm hold of the ground. 
The preservation of existing old trees is 
even of greater importance than setting out 
new ones. The lack of care of trees in the 
matter of placing guards around them, the 
leaving of short stumps in pruning and 
other neglects cause mutilations of the 
trunk and stems of trees that need atten- 
tion. Tree surgery therefore forms one of 
the important divisions of the care of trees. 
Cavities in trees, no matter how caused, are 
thoroughly cleaned of all decayed wood, 
painted with tar and filled with cement. It 
is a process very much similar to that of 
filling a tooth. Small cavities are filled 
with the usual cement mixture of one part 
of Portland cement to two parts of sand. 
In the case of larger cavities, bricks and 
stones are used to retain the concrete and 
the result is that a strong masonry column 
is erected within the hollow tree and is thus 
strengthened. The filling follows the con- 
tour of the tree; but the cement is not 
filled flush with the outside bark of the tree 
but is filled up to the line separating the 
bark from the first layer of wood, so that 
the new growth of wood will form a callous 
around the border of the filled cavity and 
in time the bark will roll over the cement 
and cover it entirely, leaving no trace of the 
cement exposed. 
The most important work by far in the 
care of trees is the extermination of the 
insect pests that annually threaten to in- 
jure and destroy our trees. From the time 
the leaves put forth their foliage in the 
spring until the fall there is the cry from 
all parts of the country: “Can’t something 
be done to save our trees?” The annual 
destruction of trees by insects is enormous. 
If they are not entirely killed they are de- 
foliated by caterpillars and lose their use- 
fulness for a season. During the four years 
that the Shade Tree Commission of East 
Orange has been organized the following 
pests have been successfully controlled: The 
Tussock moth, attacking the American elm, 
the American linden, the white maple and 
the horse-chestnut; the cottony maple scale, 
attacking the white maple; the woolly maple 
scale, attacking the sugar maple, and other- 
insects. As far as possible, the idea borne 
in mind was to fight the insects before they 
developed and hence damage was done. The 
Shade Tree Commission has a power sprayer 
by means of which the tallest trees can be 
sprayed. 
