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This matter is akin to the problem of constructing adequate arterial roads of 
approach to Sydney. Study a map for a moment and see how inadequate and even 
petty our main roads are. Some of them have the same direction as the track of a 
perplexed insect. But here I am encroaching on the domain of the professional town- 
planner, and my work is only a subordinate part. 
Trees in Parks. 
The planting of a park can only be touched upon at this place, in a general way. 
In its laying out, the indigenous trees should be conserved if possible. I do not say at 
any price. Some trees should be cultivated for the purpose, mainly, of giving shelter 
to the public. The problem of producing beautiful landscape effects is not one suitable 
for discussion here, except in very general terms, for one cannot go into essential 
details except with a particular block of land in view. Trees in a public park must 
have their lower branches removed or children will break them down, and improper 
characters will use them as places of concealment. 
In a private park we see noble specimens of trees, some of them with branches 
close to the ground. When for public park purposes we prune them, we not only 
seriously detract from their beauty, but in the case of some trees, particularly conifers, 
we inflict great injury upon them from a physiological point of view. Trees often 
require a little judicious pruning, either because of accidents to branches or to prevent 
branches becoming unduly heavy and tearing themselves away during winds or by 
their sheer weight. Then we require special precautions in regard to the danger from 
trees in a public park, particularly in those used by large numbers of people. I have 
touched upon this subject already. 
It is the duty of a park officer to frequently inspect his trees to see if any of them 
present symptoms which will cause them to be dangerous to the public. Are they 
getting top-heavy? Are the branches or the trunks becoming unsound? The pruner 
and the axe-man must be ever on the alert, especially as, with all our care, trees some- 
times fall without warning. In such cases examination of the roots or inner portion 
of the trunk reveals insidious disease, caused either by fungus or by insect pests. 
A tree is like a man, in that it progresses to maturity and then commences to 
decay. Thus we have the active growth of youth, a period of maturity, and a period 
of senile decay. It would be very desirable if trees could long remain at the period 
of their best development. But no, they grow out of hand, and have to be cut back, 
and a common symptom of incipient decay, a. dead branch, has to be cut out. I want 
to emphasise the point that a tree will not remain stationary. 
The climbing of trees by boys is a very serious cause of theii injury, and even 
destruction. If a boy intends to climb a tree, one cannot, in practice, prevent him, 
but he can be hindered by tree guards, and also by loosely twisting barbed wire around 
the first fork. 
