Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1885-08-14
wAsHINGTON's TREES
Jur Nations Capital Leads the World In
shady sidewalks-Their Effect on


yirl on the avenue YOU get IL In your
ewes. Ii flies into the white house on
the wings of the wind and rolls up in
duffy white balls in the corners of the
great vestibule through which the dis
appointed oilice-seekers go out from
their calls on the president IL does
not stop there. Ii penetrates to the
rooms of the private secretaries,
and tho cabinet-room, and even
the office of the president himself
1t attends the cabinet meetings, flies
IN the faces OF the stately heads
If the departments, and tickles the
nose of the president. 1t looks like
Town. and to the stranger who is not
accustomed To the ways of Washington
: L appears to be down, perhaps COM
ing from the "downy beds OF ease" in
which ali statesmen and government
employees are supposed to spend most
If their time. But il is not. II is a
tine cottony substance coming from
poplar trees with which many of the
older streets of the city are lined.
Cottonwood poplar is the popular
name of this somewhat unpopular
tree.
1.-The poplars ought not to be an un-
popular tree in Washington, said one
Of the park commissioners, talking of
them to your correspondent. "They
have a good deal to do with making
The city of Washington one of the
healthiest in the country, as IL is. "
"How SOP"
because they prevent malaria.
They are great absorbant, both as to
root and leaves, and are one OF the
/ tiyns Of a lar ia that = m
De had. -
Glow do they compare with the eu-
calyptus, that have been so extensive
" used for this purpose in Italy in the
asst few years?'
They compare very favorably here,
Tor the eucalyptus will not thrive here
or in any part of the country, except
probably southern California. We
have tried them and have become sat
SIZED that they will not do for our
purpose. Our climate and soil do not
suit them"
care there many poplar trees in the
city then?"
"Yes, something in the neighbor-
lood of "A thousand of them. y
"And what proportion is this OF the
.otal?"
''On, lcsS lllbl w pei tthAs Ou oNN
we have more than a hundred thou
sand trees in the city of Washington.
More than hundred thousandg"
Yes. considerably more; probably
the total now reaches about l25, 900 in
streets and parks.
"How are they divided between
streets and parks?"
About equally. There are over
3. Il Il a ,-l,-
IL quite as many in the parks. There
are no streets of any consequence
without trees, and on many of the
wider ones there are four rows OF
them. row on each side of the side
walk.
How many miles, then. of trees are
there on the sidewalks, about?'
pretty nearly $50 miles of them
"And how does that compare with
other cities of this country?'
at surpasses that of any other city
!. Of this country, or OF the world.
> "Of the world"
Yes. There is not a city in the
= world that has as many trees in pro
( portion to its population as Washing
ton has. have made this study
:. for many years, pretty nearly all my
a life indeed; but especially in the las
fifteen wears IN which | have been
@ park commissioner. and have visited
and obtained statistics from all thu
n great cities. and | am sure that Wash
l. ington is far ahead of any of them"
"How long has this accumulation o
It health and beauty been going on'"
;. well there has been more or les
"A tree planting here ever since Wash
ington was a city, of course. But thu
t. systematic work was begun unde
J. Boss" Shepherd in 1871. There wa
h some opposition to it at first, of course
l. but everybody sees the value of
r now.
land the work is still going for
z ward?'
z Eyes. We set out six or eigh
lie thousand trees "A year, and are able
furnish many more. We have hun
TO dred thousand young trees which W
L. expect 60 furnish for the flats as the
are needed We set out several thou'
)r and of them last season.
e. What is the cost of the care {
these trees and the yearly adding
~ themP'
I'd about $4,000 IA year only. w
have studied IL carefully. raise GU
III own trees from seeds or clippings, an
or reduce the cost to a minimum"
What do you find the greatest pal
40 of the work of caring for the treesP
u "The pruning. This is rs serious
;. task to us as the pruning of the Sc
IL vice Is to the new administration. Ii
deed, no subject connected with the
operations has gwen the park con
Ii missioners so much concern As ii
a matter of pruning trees. Tree pruI
III ing is at all times an operation whic
hu demands skill in the operator, an
"S can only be safely trusted to expert
a class of laborers whose services ca
not be secured except at wage rat
o which the present appropriations a.
= unable to meet. The necessity
40 pruning may be referred to three $
- lent reasons First, that of the r
- moval of branches and twigs whi'
~ interfere with travel on the sidewall
~, and on the streets; second, the thi
~ ming out of the heads OF luXuria
"a trees to prevent their prostration
60 heavy gales, fatality TO which sire
~ trees are more liable than those plan
L. cd in parks; and. third, the heading
90 or cutting back the entire system
~ branches on diseased trees. and this
IA also a necessity which seldom occu
Nv with trees in open parks and In OPP,