751 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PROGRESS IN MUNICIPAL SHADE TREE CONTROL 
An illustrated address by William Solo tar off, secretary and superintendent of 
the Shade Tree Commission of East Orange, New Jersey, before the Annual 
Convention of the American Civic Association, Washington, December 15 
In a democracy where there is a 
strong individualism and where there is 
lack of co-ordination and interdepend- 
ence between adjoining municipalities 
and states, any movement no matter 
how obvious its benefits may be to those 
who have carefully and impartially stud- 
ied it, must necessarily be slow of prog- 
ress because the basis of its success 
must lie with the individual. Such 
movements, therefore, as for conser- 
vation, good roads, town planning, shade 
trees on streets and roadsides are slow 
in their progress for two reasons. Long 
and persistent educational work is nec- 
essary to bring the people to a realiza- 
tion of their benefits, and secondly in 
their execution or practical operation ex- 
isting prejudices or conflicting interests 
must be overcome. Every one will ad- 
mit that more trees are better than no 
trees, that a good road is better than a 
bad road, that a well planned city 
is better than a city that just grew; 
but, let any one try to conserve 
our forests, build good roads, or 
plant shade trees and he will find his 
task not an easy one by any means. 
A prominent citizen of Pennsylvania, 
for example, writes that the chief bar 
to getting the shade tree law adopted in 
his city is the head of the Telephone 
company there. 
The city of Washington offers the 
most mature results of the system of the 
municipal control of shade trees. It has 
more trees and a greater variety of them 
than any of the capitals of Europe. Last 
summer the writer had the opportunity 
of going abroad to study tree planting 
on streets and roadsides in Europe. 
Nowhere in the world are trees grown 
under more severe and almost impos- 
sible conditions than in Paris. The ex- 
amples of Paris, London, Cologne, 
Dresden and Berlin offer the most con- 
vincing proofs that even under the most 
unfavorable city conditions trees may 
be grown, if the right species are chosen, 
if the trees are carefully planted and 
above all if proper provision is made 
for their future care. 
The trees of Washington have never 
been fully appreciated, or it is strange 
that its example of public control was 
not followed by other cities much soon- 
er than was actually the case. The de- 
partment for the planting and care of 
trees is officially known as the Trees 
and Parkings Division of the District 
of Columbia, and was organized in the 
year 1872. There are now over 95,000 
trees along the streets, all of which 
were planted under municipal control 
and paid for by the City. 
Trees on the streets may be planted 
either by individual land owners or pub- 
lic officials. The results obtained in 
cities where the task is left to the prop- 
erty owners have, been very unsatisfac- 
tory. The trees on the same street 
bear evidence of the diversity of taste 
of the planters. There are half a dozen 
or more species on the same street, un- 
desirable mixed with desirable, of all 
shapes and sizes, set either too closely 
or too far apart. In some cases the 
trees are not trimmed at all and the 
limbs are so low as to touch the heads of 
pedestrians : in others they are pruned 
too high. The trees have been left 
unprotected by guards, many of them 
have been bitten by horses, and there 
is evidence that they have been in- 
jured by insect pests. 
It is only when planting and care of 
street-trees is vested in a special de- 
partment that all the principles essential 
to secure the most stately and impres- 
sive effects of highway planting can be 
applied : such as the choice of the 
proper species, the use of one variety 
on a street, setting out of specimens at 
uniform and proper distance apart. 
The real progress in municipal con- 
trol may be said to date from 1893 when 
the State of New Jersey passed a mod- 
el statute to provide for the planting 
and care of shade trees on the highways 
of the municipalities of the state. The 
other states that have passed the most 
advanced laws along the lines of secur- 
ing the more general adoption of the 
system of municipal control of street 
trees are Massachusetts and Pennsyl- 
vania. Massachusetts, in 1899, passed an 
act providing that every town must elect 
a Tree Warden, and defined the duties 
and powers of the office. In 1907 Penn- 
sylvania passed a shade-tree law, mod- 
eled after the New Jersey Act of 1893 
and its amendments. The laws of New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania which provide 
for the establishment of shade-tree com- 
missions are not of general application 
to all municipalities but are of local op- 
tion. They become operative in a town 
or city only after adoption by the 
town or city council. Up to date forty- 
six towns and cities in New Jersey have 
established shade-tree commissions, as 
follows : Allendale, Arlington, Bay- 
onee, Helmar, Bloomfield, Bogota, 
Caldwell, Camden, Chatham, East 
Orange, East Rutherford, Elizabeth, 
Garfield, Glen Ridge, Haddonfield, Has- 
brouck Heights, Haworth, Irvington, 
Jersey City, Kearny, Lakewood, Madi- 
son, Maywood, Metuchen, Montclair, 
Morristown, New Brunswick, Newark, 
North Plainfield, Nutley, Passaic, Pat- 
erson, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, Point 
Pleasant, Rahway, Ridgefield, Ridge- 
wood, Riverton, Roselle, Rutherford, 
South Orange, Tenafly, Vineland, West- 
field and Woodbury. The Pennsyl- 
vania statute has been adopted by eight 
cities, as follows ; Amhridge, Carlisle, 
East Washington, Pittsburg, Phoenix- 
ville, Sewickley, West Chester and 
Wilkes-Barre. 
Briefly the provisions of the acts of 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania may be 
summarized as follows : 
When by resolution of the city coun- 
cil it is decided that the law shall be- 
come operative in a city, then from 
that time all matters pertaining to 
shade-trees are placed in the hands of 
the respective commissions. All work 
is carried on in a systematic way and 
the trees are planted, pruned, sprayed, 
and removed under the direction of 
the commissioners. Wherein these 
commissions differ from other similar 
bodies is that they have the power of 
initiative in the matter of planting. 
They decide that a certain street is to 
be planted and determine the species of 
