JENNINGS: HURRICANE IN NEW YORK CITY 
7 
process. The WPA has also assisted in the digging out and removal of 
felled trees and it will take several months before this work is finished, 
as to date, 2,285 stumps have been removed. 
In going over the records and analyzing the varieties of trees to which 
the most damage occurred, I find that out of a total of 2,181,421 trees 
standing in parks, on parkways and on City streets, our loss was 12,319. 
Silver Maples and Poplars accounted for the largest majority; there 
were 3,645 Silver Maples and 2,946 Poplars destroyed. The remainder 
of the varieties in the larger brackets were as follows: 651 Willows, 605 
Lindens, 525 Norway Maples, 400 Cherries, 360 Planes, 169 American 
Elms, 157 Locusts, 118 Oaks and 30 Ashes. There are at least 30 varie¬ 
ties of trees growing on our streets. If Silver Maples and Poplars, 
which constitute 53% of the total, were eliminated, the loss would have 
been only 4,328 trees, and this same ratio applies to trees damaged. 
These weeds of the tree family sustained the most damage, such as 
broken tops and large branches, and trees partially uprooted and with a 
bad list. This clearly demonstrates that they are not good park or 
street trees and their use should be discouraged as much as possible. 
They raise the cost of maintenance wherever planted, as well as causing 
trouble to the property owner by raising and breaking sidewalks and 
stopping sewer pipes. 
The Park Department has and is still making an intensive study of the 
better trees for park and street tree usage, assisted by the staff of the 
Botanical Garden, whom I take this opportunity of publicly thanking 
for their generous help and advice. With this assistance added to our 
own experience, we have reduced the roster of suitable street trees to Pin 
and Red Oak, Linden, Norway Maple, Honey Locust, Oriental Plane, 
American Elm, Tulip and Ginkgo. 
We make every effort to foster street tree planting by not only giving 
advice on the variety of trees to plant, but also in interesting and helping 
various property owners and large real estate holdings with their street 
tree problems. This activity has met with gratifying success throughout 
the City and I have no doubt but that the hurricane has brought before 
realty owners the fallacy of planting any but sturdy growing trees in 
front of their property. 
I am thoroughly convinced in my experiences in the City and my 
observations in the Long Island area that was hit hardest by the storm, 
that no tree would stand up under the blow that occurred. Oaks, 
Ashes, Pines, Maples and Lindens all went down or were broken in half 
