[April 16, 1904. 
The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“A host of golden Daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”— Wordsiuoith. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
i Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
(rill give a oash prize of Ten Shillings for 
THE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, sent 
by readers during the week. The Editor’s 
judgment must be considered final, and he will 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions 
gent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 
EXCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the value, 
rather than the length, of the article will be 
considered in making the award. Competitors 
may send in items of news or comments on 
news; hints of practical interest to gar¬ 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; 
successful methods of propagating plants 
usually considered difficult; or contributions 
on ant subject coming within the sphere 
of gardening proper. Letters should be 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi¬ 
tion,” and posted not later than Fridat night 
to ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
The following Coloured 
Plates have appeared in 
recent numbers:— 
May 23.— SAX1FRAGA GRISEBACHII, 
May 30. — DENDROBIUM NOBILE 
ROTUNDIFLORUM and D.n. NOBILIUS. 
July 4.— APHELANDRA AURANTIACA 
ROEZLIL 
i August 1.— BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. 
September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
October 3— LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
Novembei 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA- 
VASSEUR 
. January 2— HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 
ROSE IRENE. 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA 
COUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
publishers, price 2£d. post free. 
This week we present a Half-tone 
Plate of 
SELAGINELLA WATSONIANA. 
Next week we shall give a Half-tone 
Plate of 
ROSE BESSIE BROWN. 
*** The prize last week in the Readers’ 
Competition was awarded to “J. 0.,” 
for his article on “ Gloriosa superba,” 
page 298. 
Views and Reviews. 
Street Trees on Two Continents. 
Since the question of tliei widening of 
London streets was undertaken a few years 
ago, we are continually hearing of the neces¬ 
sity for tree planting, chiefly for the adorn¬ 
ment of the streets'. In Paris and in 
America, where sunshine is more abundant 
and powerful, the people more often speak 
of planting them for the purpose of giving 
shade during the hot weather. Whatever 
the motive of planting tree®, the cultivation 
of them in cities and their suitability for the 
purpose are identical items bearing on the 
subject, whether in this country or abroad. 
At the present time the suburbs of London 
are better off for trees than the central and] 
more densely crowded areas. These may be 
planted in the streets or in the gardens abut¬ 
ting upon the same, but their effect upon 
street scenery is much the same. 
There are two points concerning this that 
are worthy of more attention than they re¬ 
ceive—namely, the planting of suitable trees 
and the proper pruning of the same so as to 
regulate them for their positions. The 
authorities who have control over the plant¬ 
ing are not all equally versed in the nature, 
of the trees and their suitability for the pur¬ 
pose, and landlords 1 , especially in, neighbour¬ 
hoods being built upon, seem to exercise 
their own sweet discretion and plant almost 
anything. In the early stages some of these 
things are extremely interesting, and at cer¬ 
tain seasons are certainly effective, but as 
the larger trees attain their full dimensions 
it would he almost necessary to begin lop 
ping and topping operations, otherwise thei 
trees will overwhelm the houses which they 
surround. 
Some of the gardens on the outskirts of 
Croydon, planted within the; last ten or 
twelve years, and even as recently, some of 
them, as last year, seem intended to imitate 
Swiss hillsides, and in some cases Japanese 
gardens. Several houses built about the 
same time are practically overwhelmed 
already by large trees planted thickly and 
now forming spiry or pyramidal specimens 
12 ft>. to 15 ft. high. These not only occupy 
the available areas at the ends of the semi¬ 
detached villas, hut also the small garden 
in the front of the house, so that already 
almost all the windows must be considerably 
shaded in the summer-time when the trees 
are in leaf. The Larches, however, do not 
throw so dense a shade as trees with broader 
leaves would, but when they get large and 
unwieldy they do not take well to pruning 
or topping, because they present a maimed 
condition for the remainder of their lives. 
Trees of narrow, upright growth are cer¬ 
tainly more suitable for narrow streets than 
those that are naturally of a spreading and 
umbrageous habit. Nevertheless, many 
trees are planted in situations where they are 
altogether too confined and require a deal of 
pruning. For these reasons it would seem 
as if some; of them were selected for abuse 
by the saw and pruning knife. The London 
Plane, no doubt, comes in for a deal of this 
abuse on account of its suitability otherwise 
for street planting and its capability of with¬ 
standing the smoky and filthy atmosphere of 
London. Other trees might be mentioned 
that are subjected to the same or similar 
forms of abuse. 
In the case of the London Plane in a 
western suburb, we might mention, a row of 
trees on the side of a narrow pavement that 
were so severely cut every year that the 
heads represented a dense mass of leaves in 
summer. Now the authorities seem to have 
observed this, and, with the object of thin¬ 
ning out the heads of the trees, some of the 
branches have been cut away while others 
are allowed to remain, but to extend at the 
top. At thei point where the pruning 
occurred in past years there is a great thick¬ 
ening at the end of the branches, and these 
resemble the mailed fists of the trees hold¬ 
ing out a SAvord, this latter being represented 
by the young growths of last year which 
have been allowed to remain. 
We do not pretend to believe that the 
abuse of trees exists only in London, as ive 
ha,A r e ample evidence of abuses of various 
forms to the street trees in the United 
States. Bulletin 205 of the Cornell Univer¬ 
sity Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Ithaca,, New York, give® us many side 
glimpses of the abuses which are being given 
to trees planted in public place®. Many of 
these have been destroyed or greatly 
damaged by workmen in digging up the 
ground near them for the purpose of laying 
gas and water pipes and cables for convey¬ 
ing electricity through the town. Carts 
have also injured many of these trees by 
knocking up against them; Avorkmen tie 
guy-ropes of steel to the tree®; horses are 
allowed to bite and gnaAV the bark ; electric 
Avire® overhead injure the branches and 
foliage ; Avlrile they also suffer other abuses 
