TREES CROWN THE HOME 
25 
This principle applies to communities as well as to 
individual homes. The visitor to town or city gains his 
first and most lasting impression from the presence or 
absence of shade trees. The community with streets bare 
and bleak and shadeless is dismissed as an undesirable 
place in which to live. Shaded streets and tree-clad lawns 
have a charm which often proves the deciding factor in 
influencing the home seeker in his choice of a place of 
residence. 
Definite evidence of this is found in the efforts of real 
estate men to give new property added beauty and attrac¬ 
tiveness by the planting of trees. That their choice of 
species is ofttimes ill-advised, because of demand for 
quick growth, does not change the major truth that they 
recognize the value of the shade tree. Experience has 
shown them that in the sale of homes in a new residence 
district, trees are as essential as sidewalks and paving, and 
second only to sewer, water, gas and electric connections. 
Whether along the street or on the individual lawn, 
the cost of planting trees is insignificant, and no man who 
can afford to own a home can afford to deny himself and 
his family the added beauty, health and comfort to be 
derived from trees. It is not a question of one’s ability 
to afford the outlay. It is a simple truth that none of us 
can afford not to do it; tree planting is good business as 
well as good taste. 
Unlike paving and other improvements, including the 
house itself, the tree, properly cared for, is not subject to 
depreciation in value. On the contrary, its worth becomes 
greater with the passing years. In the towns of New 
England to-day there are massive Elms which are known 
to have spread their overhanging beauty before the eyes of 
the Pilgrim, and which now give to the old homes a 
value that can be measured in dollars just as surely as in 
