THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
55 
TREES IIS PARIS STREETS. 
One for Every Three Inhabitants —Care With Which These Lungs of 
the Great City are Fostered—Renewals from the City’s Nur¬ 
series—Comparison With Street Trees in Other Great Cen - 
ters of Population—In New York, Chicago, Boston. 
In an instructive article on the trees in Paris streets a cor¬ 
respondent of the New York Tribune says: 
Paris is essentially a gray city. This, to an artist’s eye, is one of its 
charms. But the delicate soft gray would become monotonous unless 
relieved by a profusion of green leaves and branches, which lend grace 
to perspectives of long, straight streets and boulevards. The result is 
that tree culture has become a sort of religious creed with Parisians, 
and the scientific care and treatment of the city trees afford food for 
reflection for the municipal authorities of less favored cities. 
The annual cost of maintaining trees in the streets of Paris, where 
they alternate in rows with iron lamp posts, is $90,000. There are 
87,693 trees in the city of Paris growing in rows along the sidewalks, 
exclusive of the trees contained in the city parks, gardens and squares. 
A corps of tree inspectors is constantly on the alert watching the trees. 
The soil is frequently renewed. Iron “corsets” are placed around 
young trees to protect them from injury. A circle at least three yards 
in diameter is kept free from asphalt or pavement around the base of 
each tree. This circle is usually covered with an iron grating to pre¬ 
serve the proper level of the sidewalk. The trees are watered by the 
street hose twice a day. Excavations are made around the trees so 
that the water collects about the base of the trunk and percolates 
freely to the roots. 
The number of these trees is 87,693. That is to say, in the streets of 
Paris there is one tree for each 3.3 inhabitants. It might be interest¬ 
ing to ascertain how the six most populous cities id the United States 
compare with Paris in this respect. New York, with its population of 
3,437,202 inhabitants, in order to reach the Paris standard of a tree for 
each 3.3 of its citizens, should have 104,158 trees planted in its 
streets, exclusive of those in public and private parks, gardens, squares 
or back yards. Chicago, with its population of 1,698,575, in order to 
keep up with Paris, should possess rows of trees along its sidewalks 
containing 51,139 trees. Philadelphia, with a population of 1,293 697, 
should have 39,203 trees in its streets. St. Louis, with a population of 
575,238, ought to have its streets lined with 17,431 trees. In order to 
compete with Paris in tree culture, the 560,892 residents of Boston 
should have 16,997 trees in the streets, exclusive of those in ihe Public 
Garden, Common and parks and squares. Baltimore with a population 
of 508,957 inhabitants should have 15,423 trees in her streets. 
It is probable that some of these cities may already have attained or 
even exceeded the Parisian standard of one tree to each 3.3 inhabitants, 
but all interested in the question of municipal science will be gratified 
to learn that the tree department of the city of Paris is felt to be of 
paramount importance for the public health, and the municipal coun¬ 
cillors of Paris do not regard green foliage as a luxury, but as an abso¬ 
lute necessity. The city fathers fully appreciate that trees materially 
improve the health rate of the population by absorbing noxious gases 
and emanations, and by renewing the air breathed by the citizens. 
Paris has within the mural fortifications a population of 2,660,559 in¬ 
habitants. If the public parks, squares and gardens be included in the 
calculation, it will be found that in Paris there is at least one tree fo r 
every inhabitant. The official statistics, however, do not comprise 
trees planted in public or private parks, squares and gardens, but 
only those growing in rows along the sidewalks. 
The variety of trees planted along the Paris sidewalks comprises horse 
chestnuts, elms, acacias, lindens, sycamores, and the Japanese sumac. 
Horse chestnut trees are great favorites with Parisians, because they 
come so early in leaf. 
The Paris trees are renovated, when necessary, by recruits lrom the 
acres of pepinieres, or “ tree schools,” maintained in the environs of 
Paris. Whenever a Parisian tree shows signs of decay, a huge tiuck, 
drawn by four oxen, appears, and by a most ingenious system of lever¬ 
age, the tree is pulled up, roots and all, without injury, by means of a 
gigantic forceps. The operation is like that performed by a dentist in 
drawing an eye tooth. Another tree is at once brought from the nea r- 
est “ tree school,” and planted in the place of the invalid tree, which is 
taken to what is called the tree hospital, where it is replanted and by a 
course of renewed loam and potash undergoes a treatment analogous to 
that prescribed for a citizen of Paris who gets wheezy in the lungs, 
rheumatic, or whose liver becomes clogged, and who starts forth for a 
“cure” at Aix-le-Bains, Bourboule or Vichy. 
A LUCKY SUBSTITUTION. 
George H. Bradley, the most prominent fruit grower in 
Niagara county, N. Y., died at Somerset, N. Y., recently. He 
had one of the finest fruit farms in the Empire State. It is 
reported that his fortune was due to a mistake in the sending 
of trees from a nursery. 
Back in the early forties, says the Rochester Democrat and 
Chronicle, when the Niagara farmers began to discover that 
the soil was especially adapted to fruit growing and the 
climate, modified by the lake to an extent that made 12 ° below 
zero an unusual occurrence any year, protected the trees in 
fall, winter and spring so that the crops there were a greater 
certainty than anywhere else in the United States, Mr. Bradley 
decided to set out an orchard. Thousands of acres were set 
to orchards that decade, and they proved the best investment 
imaginable, for during the war $5 per barrel was a common 
price. Mr. Bradley ordered the usual list of varieties, Green¬ 
ings, Northern Spies, Baldwins and Russets, and just one row 
of Duchess of Oldenburgs as a sort of experiment. 
The order ran into several thousand trees and was placed 
with an eastern nurseryman. A month later a carload of trees 
arrived and was set out by a gang of twenty laborers. Another 
carload lot followed and was likewise set in the ground. The 
orchard extended along the lake shore for nearly a half mile 
and as the young trees grew a prettier sight could not be 
imagined. When they began to blossom the pink and white 
blows, bordering the deep blue of Lake Ontario, presented a 
study for an artist. 
And the first picking ! What a surprise and revelation it 
was. Bradley and his helpers got Duchess of Oldenburg on 
the first row they tackled, but thinking that was the one of that 
variety ordered, although the location was not according to his 
recollection, they tried the next. That had Duchess of Olden¬ 
burg, too ! And so on through the entire orchard of sixty 
acres ; it was a great, blooming wilderness, bearing fruit named 
in honor of a German lady of quality. And the fruit proved 
to be first quality, too. 
The handsome, palatable fruit was marketable at good prices 
for the start, and as it was an unusual variety there was soon a 
growing demand for it. BuyeiS flocked to Bradley and he was 
soon getting fancy prices foi his crops. The Queen of Eng¬ 
land’s agents heard of the delicious apples grown on the shores 
of Lake Ontario, perfect in every respect, admirable keepers 
and beautiful to the eye. Regularly they sent to Bradley’s 
orchard for a select supply of Duchess of Oldenburgs for 
years. That sixty acres of Oldenburgs proved a gold mine. 
One year he sold his crop for $ 8,750 and many years the 
figures ran above $ 5 , 000 , it is said. 
It was never known just how the mistake occurred, but in¬ 
stead of getting the varieties ordered, the nurseryman had sent 
him Duchess of Oldenburg apple trees exclusively. 
The Texas Nursery Company, Sherman, Tex., has increased its capi¬ 
tal stock from $10,000 to $20,000. 
