Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-03-31

W ubE VIC see tIB number VI HGlg
North Carolina poplar trees, IL amy
tree can be ugly, that hars heen
planted along our streets, and then
notice how these are rendered still more
unsightly, aud how other trees are ne
formed by unscientitic pruning, We
wish We might have sucioty here like
the Bronklyn Tree Planting and F0un
tain Society, which ia ahls TO give in
telligent advice about the hest kind of
trees 10 be planted on the streets, and
the most approved msthods of destroy
ing injurious Insects and fungi. This
society employs intelligent, trained tree
trimmers, who prune the trees OF its
members at cost: it issues educational
circulars demonstrating the irreparable
injury done to trees by tacking signs,
or fastening electric lights to them, Dr
by hitGhing horses to them, as the
friction of the strap rubs off tha bark
and allows tho entrance OF harmful
fungus germs into tine circulating sap
of the trae. IL secures the teaching 10
children in schools the harm done to
trees and shrubbery by swinging On
them, or hacking them with knives,
and asks their co operation in educating
others not TO commit these or other
forms OF maltreatment.
The North Carolina poplar, and its
kindred. tho cottonwood trees. are
I entirely unsuitable 70: city trees, or in
fact, for planting anywhere, where any
other tree will grow. Their only rec
| ommenhation is their quick growth,
so they are often planted where shade
10 desired without delay. but each year
the leaves grow fewer on the lower
| limbs and increase at the top so that
soon the shade, instead of being where
it 10 needed, on the pavement or on the
| front of the house. is cast over the top
of the roofs aud the lower branches are
bare and unaightlS. In order to keep
| the shade low trimmers resort to cutting
tine tree bark, and the rtumpa OF the
mutilaEed branches are rotting and
wounds a crowd Of thin and sickly
shouts hinder each others growth. II
one wishes To see q ealnple of theEe
trees let him look ainng Trenton Place
ana in many other parts OF the city,
Their leaves come lRte in the spring and
begin to fall as soon as matured 80 the
pavement is strewn with them and the
shade has disappeared toward the end
of summer when the heat is often al its
greatest.
But the gravest objections to them is
the number Of shoots sent up from the
ground, tho great vigor OF the rootH,
and their habit of growing near the
surface of the ground and pushing theil
way Whera their presence ia not desired
In one case this was through tht
foundation Of house, seriously i'm,
pairing its stability, in another through
the joints OF an underground Drain
where they wanted TO drink the water
and finally choked the drain with tinl
tihrous roots and drove back the vast,
water and sewage into the house witt
resulting malaria and diphtheria.
minor harm, hut still real ore, thu
these trees do is in tha hesying up o
the sidewalks into ridges To accommo
date their great roota. 1t ia to he hopet
there will never be another tree oil thi
species planted in our city; tley shout
be rrlesated to the prHiries where nj
other trees will grow and where the,
might he useful in breaking the fore
OF the winds and sneltering eas hard
trees while they get foothuld. Tn
hest trees for city streets seem to b
the maplea, and especially the Norwa
maple, which though less rapid II
: growth, makes a dense shade and who's
roots are More modest in their demands