THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
165 
GOOD AND BAD TREES. 
• 
•Professor R. W. Curtis of the landscape art depart¬ 
ment of the Ne wYork State college of agriculture has 
issued a list of desirable and undesirable trees. Mis list 
and comments follow: 
Bad Street Trees 
Professor Curtis points out that there are two classes 
of trees which are worthless on the street, those which 
are rapid growers and those which are individually con¬ 
spicuous. 
Under the rapid growers he includes weak-wooded and 
short-lived trees such as poplars, soft maple (sometimes 
known as silver or white maple), box elder or ash-leaved 
maple, sycamore maple, willows, birches, catalpa, Euro¬ 
pean ash. and ailanthus. None of these, he said, should 
go on any city street with the possible exception of one. 
This exception is Ailanthus, or tree of heaven, In the dry 
tenement sections of large cities, where practically every¬ 
thing is pavement, the Ailanthus may he used, but only 
because it is able to flourish under these harsh condi¬ 
tions. It is short-lived, will break in storms, and be¬ 
comes unsightly and dangerous as it grows old. 
Carolina poplars and soft maples, he says, are planted 
altogether too much. He points out that it is against the 
law to plant these two trees on the streets of several 
cities, both east and west,, as in Cleveland and Minne¬ 
apolis. In the city of Washington, noted for its street 
trees, these kinds are being cut down and others planted 
in their stead. While they are rapid growers they are 
weak, break easily in the wind, heave up pavements be¬ 
cause their roots are near the surface; the roots also get 
into the sewer pipes. 
The box elder is a tree planted largely because it is 
advertised by nurserymen who find it casv to grow. In 
New York it is generally a small straggling tree, weak 
and short-lived. It may be good for holding sliding 
banks, because it grows and spreads rapidly, but it is 
useless on the street. 
Conspicuous Trees Undesirable. 
Among the conspicuous trees those which have flowers 
and fruits which would invite injury through vandalism 
are undesirable. Such trees are horse chestnut, Catalpa, 
flowering dogwood, Magnolia, mountain ash, hickory 
and chestnut. 
In addition to inviting injury from those who seek its 
flowers or fruits, the horse chestnut, as a street tree, suf¬ 
fers from lack of water and very seldom survives the 
summer in sightly condition. The Catalpa is weak, lias 
conspicuous flowers, and in addition has large tender 
leaves which collect dust and become torn and ra gged in 
storms. The locust is badly riddled by borers, and 
should not be planted for the same reason that chestnut 
is not planted, that is, that it is likely to succumb to 
disease. 
Good Street Trees 
For streets from 60 to 90 feet between buildings, pin 
oak, oriental plane or sycamore, and Norway maple are 
said to be desirable. The Norway maple is tough and 
hardy, has few insect enemies, but has the disadvantage 
of being broad and low-headed so that it does not allow 
of lhe passage of wires where overhead wires are in use. 
In order to provide ample growing space the trees should 
be planted 40 feet apart. For wide streets where there is 
more than 90 feet between buildings the American elm, 
red oak, and sugar maple are advocated. For these trees 
the space should be not less than 50 feet between trees 
and where possibly they should be planted well inside of 
the curb line. 
The sugar maple is particularly attractive and desir¬ 
able, but it needs a good deal of moisture. Pin oak is 
excellent for both narrow and average streets, and is also 
desirable as individual specimens for the lawn. Contrary 
to general opinion in regard to oaks, it is a fairly rapid 
grower and it shares this quality with red oak. 
American elm is said to be the handsomest and most 
satisfactory shade tree in this country, mainly because 
of its high arching branches which shade hut do not 
smother, allowing free passage of air beneath the tree it¬ 
self. Some objection has been made to the elm tree be¬ 
cause of the depredations of the elm-leaf beetle, and 
other insect pests, but this can be readily overcome. In 
other words, the authorities of the college of agriculture 
say that the farmer might as readily refuse to raise po¬ 
tatoes because of potato bugs, or decide against planting 
an orchard because of San Jose scale. The various 
enemies of the elm tree are easily overcome. One high 
power sprayer is sufficient to give all the elms in an aver¬ 
age sized city or town a good spraying, promptly and 
efficiently, at a cost not to exceed 20 cents a tree. This 
high power sprayer has an engine with a special pump 
which can furnish 300 pounds pressure continuously. 
Such a sprayer can shoot over any tree grown in the east, 
and no ladders are necessary. The stream of spray 
breaks into a mist at about 50 or 60 feet from the ground 
when a straight-bore nozzle with a %-inch opening, is 
used or from 90 to 100 feet with a larger opening. In a 
small town such a high power sprayer could be used for 
fire protection, or the engine could be detached from the 
pump and used for other power purposes. 
Co-operation Essential 
In all street tree work it is pointed out that co-opera¬ 
tion with one’s neighbors is essential, especially where 
the trees are not cared for under direct municipal super¬ 
vision. A street planted uniformly to one good kind of 
trees is much better than one planted to three or four 
kinds, and the trees on both sides of the streets should be 
alike. Tt is advocated that all towns should have a shade 
tree commission or at least a tree warden with power to 
secure co-operation with all the city’s interests, or that 
the town itself should plant and care for the trees. 
WILL INSTALL EXHIBIT 
Prof. N. E. Shaw, chief of the Ohio State University 
bureau of nursery and orchards, yesterday was assigned 
by the state agricultural commission to install the agri¬ 
cultural exhibit of the state at the Panama-Pacific Ex¬ 
position. 
