Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-02


ornamental trees growing along tue
streets. We cannot get too many treeS'
nar,icularly in the residence portion OF
rbe CITY. and for best effect they cannot
be too large; provided, always that
they are trees of spreading habit, more
or less. A street bordered with Caillor-
MIA redwood trees, or cypress Trees OF
roup-Iear nine trees, might not be re-
garded with favor, but regular shaue
trees are accented with favor every time.
Fspecially is this desire for street trees
q prominent thirg so far as relates 10
Southern cities. vet their great old eims,
etc make many northeastern towns take
nosition as very parudises m at without
Them would appear among the most I'M
attractive places to be pointed out on the
map. ,-
Asa rule the lower South is famous Tor
bar ci,ies embowered in shade trees.
Northern people at home. VINO nave READ
much of our section, picture to them
saIres our towns as a collection OF stately
Residences peepiT ont through openings
in averpreen foliage, and in many OF our
repions It is a good deal that way. Take
Tho older towns or cities Of the Gulf
states east of the Mississippi river, Tor
instance. The residence portions OF
Mobile. Ala, are literally groves of
prpat. SPREADING shade trees, and the
same NAV be said OF Montgomery, in the
same state, of Jacksonville, Ocala, Pa
Iotl,a and 81. Augustine in Florida; OF
Savannah, In Georgia, of Charleston in
Sou,b Carolina. and 80 on. Take the
shade trees frem these cities aud towns
and fu.Iy three fourths of their attrac-
tivenoas TO strangers would be gone.
Many N heir great hotels that now
Aou-ish go extensively through the win
far season on account of winter patron
aga yvould be forced to close up; in
word they would not fill the Northern
id.n of n real Southern city, and the
vinter resorter, abroad to dodge the
biizznrds of hi own region, would pass
them by and 20 on N search of some
other stopping place more III accord with
what mis- fancy had painted MIN South
ern city should be.
For best effect it lie absolutely neces-
sary to make the South appear pecu-
liarly Southern to the greatest possible
extent. The more we can shape il unlike
any other section the better il will get in
its own advertising. If we enjoy rapid
deveIopment the people largely aiding US
in bringing il about must come from the
Northern section OF our common country.
II they come our Southern climate is the
chief stimulus that brings them, us
rule. and therefore the more we can
take on the Southern appearance the
befter chance we shall have OF attracting
their attention.
Floridn has found this thing out in
full. consequently when the Florida peO-
nile Inv of a new town the first thing they
make IN order, after surveying the
streets, is TO border them with rapidly
growing trees of strictly Southern species;
that is. trees not seen in the Northern
countries at all, and consequently trees
better calculated 10 impress the Northern
stranger with the feeling that he has,
indeed, reached a strange land. Many
of the Ordinary Northern trees abound in
the woods of Florida, but the Florida
town people have no use for any of them.
They want something rigidly Southern
and not 10 be met with in any other
cline.
For some cause or other the Texas
towns are neglectlng shade trees more
than are mos: OF the towns in the lower
Southern states further east. OF course
the new towns and cities of Northern
Texas are not yet old enough TO have
made any very great development in the
shade tree line, still the neglect is strik-
ingly apparent; even in many of the very
old. places further south, as Galveston,
San Antonio aud so on.
True our young cities OF Northern
Texas ars putting out many street and
yard IRE s, but unfortunately in our
opinion, they are working too much
against the Florida rule for their own
good. In their selection of species they
are, we tear, making a decided mistake;
that is, we believe II would be decidedly
better If they would plant only such
species as are strictly confined, in their
range, TO the Southern states. Take
Fort Worth as fair example of the whole.
Here you will find in the very large ma
jority species of trees common enough in
most of the North IN states. One of our
most popular street trees is the sycamore
or buttonwood cf the northeastern
states-the Platanus occidentalis of
botanist- No tree in all North America
has wider range than this-it
simply grows everywhere. Another
very popular tree with us is the box
elder (Negundo aceroides), which Is
(celtis occidentales) is another; elm,
(ulmus Americana) Is another; honey
locust, (cleditschcia triacauthos) is an
other; cottonwood (populus monilifera)
is another; tree of heaven (ailauthus
glanduIosus) is another, ETC., etc. All
these save the last are indig nous to
Texas, and all are likewise inc pnous to
most of the northern states. There are
really but two strictly southern trees
claiming any particular attention IN Fort
Worth as street or yard trees, one of
these being the we'll known China tree
Cmeha azedavach) in its two varieties.
and the other bois Pare, or Usage
orange (maclura aurantiaca). And
even this last has been carried SO far
North as a hedge plant that it can
scarcely be regarded as strange tree
by very large per cent. eff Northern
people.
All the trees named are deciduous; that
Is, they shed their leaves in the fan and
remain bare until the next spring has
put In an appearance. This evidently
makes their selection another mistake,
for nothing so gives southern air TO
city as streets lined with broadleaf ever
green trees, carrying their rich foliage
of living green throughout the winter.
1t may be stated that this selection of