PARK AND CEMETERY 
244 
ter entitling it to a prominent place in our streets and 
parks. 
The Scarlet Oak is a desirable tree for many rea- 
sons, one of them being the crimson leaves which 
charm the eye long after the other trees are bare. Its 
foliage is unusually persistent, and in some seasons the 
ruddy glow of its leaves may be seen in brilliant con- 
trast with the first snow. 
The Red Oak is the most rapid in growth of all the 
Oaks, attains a great size, and exhibits the best pro- 
portions of any of the acorn-bearing species. It has 
less of the gnarled and contorted habit so characteristic 
of the Oaks in general. 
The Pin Oak may be described as a middle-sized 
tree, available for roads and streets of medium width. 
It thrives best on moist ground. In shapely habit 
and general massing of foliage it will compare favor- 
ably with any of its genus, while the smooth, deeply 
pinnatifid leaves, bright green on both sides, add 
greatly to its beauty. 
The White Oak is superior in vigor and longevity. 
It does not grow as tall as the Red Oak, but attains a 
greater spread. Its russet-colored leaves are very per- 
sistent, often clinging to the tree the entire winter. 
Some of our best trees can be improved in appear- 
ance occasionally by trimming or cutting back in order 
to correct irregularities, or to attain some form better 
adapted to the situation. Such work can be done with- 
out injury to the tree; but it can be undertaken safely 
only by a skillful, professional tree primer. This work 
should not be entrusted to ignorant, inexperienced per- 
sons, as is often the case. Men of this class frequent 
our cities, and solicit employment as tree primers'. 
With glib tongues they describe the defects, real or 
otherwise, in street or lawn trees, and often obtain per- 
mission to do some work. As a result, beautiful speci- 
mens have been disfigured or irremediably injured. 
Pruning is necessary at times, the same as surgery, 
and is successful only when skillfully done. 
The best time for pruning is in the Fall, soon after 
the leaves have dropped. Trees may be pruned in the 
Spring with safety, but it must be done early and be- 
fore there is any swelling of the buds. Whenever a 
branch is removed, whether a dead or a live one, it 
must be cut off close to and even with the trunk, no 
matter how large the wound. The new wood and bark 
will then, in time, cover the denuded space. If a 
branch is not cut off close to the trunk, the projecting 
stub soon decays, its bark falls off, and the stump re- 
mains “like a plug of decaying wood driven into the 
trunk from which the rotten mass extends rapidly 
to the heart of the tree. 
All wounds made in pruning should be covered with 
coal tar or white lead to exclude the air from the raw 
surface. Coal or gas tar, by penetrating the pores of 
the wood, acts as a preservative, and at the same time 
prevents the inroads of fungi and insects. 
It is a misery to see how our fairest trees are de- 
faced and mangled by unskillful wood-men and mis- 
chievous borderers, who go always armed with short 
hand-bills, hacking and chopping off all that comes in 
their way ; by which our trees are made full of knots, 
stabs, boils, cankers, and deformed branches, to their 
utter destruction. 
SOME EXAMPLES OF NEGLECTED AND MISUSED STREET TREES. 
U^ed as a Trolley Pole. The Result of Neglect. Used as a Hitching Post. Bark Gnawed by Horses. 
