THE OAK TREE COMES TO TOWN 
the maple so that they break. The heart of the oak is 
very strong, and blow and twist as they may, the swirling 
city winds cannot snap it off or uproot it. It stands by 
the curb as the years pass and adds to its stature. Since 
it is given a span of years that runs from a thousand to 
two thousand, its passing through old age need not con¬ 
cern city managements of today. 
The white oak, the pin oak, the bur oak, and the scar¬ 
let oak are coming to cities. Of these the pin oak is most 
highly recommended. It has a stalwart trunk, limbs that 
stick straight out or a little downward, and a crown that 
comes to a point like an inverted cone. For twenty years 
the city authorities in Washington have been planting 
the pin oak almost exclusively. There are scores of miles 
of it running this way and that alongside the broad 
avenues of the District of Columbia. There is never a 
break in these avenues of trees. There is never a flaw in 
the manner of their growth. The idea of planting them 
is spreading throughout the land, and the cities of the 
future, if the present program continues, will be checker- 
boarded with oak trees that will drop their acorns in the 
autumn, to remind city folk that harvest time for the 
squirrels has come to the regions where trees find their 
natural homes. 
47 
