stene: HURRICANE IN RHODE island 
17 
ped off. Poplars and willows suffered heavily and emphasized more 
fully than ever that these trees are of little value as shade trees. Birches, 
especially the gray, uprooted readily but were relatively free from 
breaking of either trunk or branches. 
Resistance to damage of salt to foliage is somewhat less difficult to 
evaluate. It was easy, for instance, to note that white pine and pitch 
pine suffered severely from leaf killing by salt. On the other hand, the 
Scotch and especially the Austrian pines were much more resistant to 
injury. The Norway spruce may be classified with the Scotch pine and 
the white spruce was outstanding in resistance. A Rhode Island 
nurseryman called the writer’s attention to a clump of white spruce set 
by him on a hill at Newport, 15 or 20 years ago, less than three-quarters 
of a mile from the shore and fully exposed to the ocean winds. The trees 
leaned a little from the effect of the terriffic wind, but so far as could be 
seen at a distance of about 300 yards, there was no browning of the 
foliage. Blue spruce was also fairly resistant, umbrella pines were up¬ 
rooted in many cases but showed little browning. Douglas fir and 
Swiss stone pine were poor and Taxus cuspidata and Irish juniper were 
fairly high in resistance. Japanese red pine, Mugho pine, arbor vitae 
and red cedar, and rhododendrons and azaleas were quite resistant. 
The more common broad leafed trees also varied in resistance. Elm, 
linden and ash suffered greatly, beech and oak were more resistant, and 
the maples were damaged the least. As a general rule, no broad leafed 
tree escaped considerable injury, but since the damage came late in the 
season, there will probably be little set back of the trees from this cause 
another year. 
There are some phases of the tree rehabilitation work following the 
storm that will materially affect future shade trees policies of the state. 
The first work on trees following the storm was a rapid clearing of roads 
and release of light and telephone wires. Following this came pruning 
of broken limbs on roadside trees, cutting up and carting away of wood, 
and lastly, the removal of stumps. The wood has been piled largely as 
cordwood and the stumps in many cases have been unloaded in depres¬ 
sions, where fills are needed, or, in some cases, in piles for burning. 
Most of the clearing work was done with efficiency and dispatch by 
regular road employees and WPA laborers. There is, however, much 
pruning yet to be done and quite a little that needs to be done over to 
remove short or broken stubs and also some care of wounds made by 
tearing away of the bark. Finally, there is much need of thoroughly 
treating all wounds with suitable wound dressings. 
