The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1899-11-03
DEATH TO cHIcAGo's OAKS.
May Be GOne-Other GrOwths
SuppIant Them.

The oaks of Chicago and it's suburbs
are going the way of all things mortal.
1t is predicted by nurserymen that
within decade no heated city resident
can find place of rest under the gen.
erous shade of one of these trees with
in 40 miles of the city's heart.
For years the oak has been the char
acteristic tree of the lake shore sec
ton, but the knell of it's doom seems to
have been rung. 1t is probable that be-
fore long Oak Park must take on a new
name if the villagers wish to have all
things consistent. Civilization is the
enemy of the gnarled oak, as it is the
enemy of the squirrels that ate acorns
in its branches.
On the South side, in Chicago, within
view of the cars from the elevated rail
road, there are square blocks on which
no buildings have been erected and
which look desolate, for within the last
two years the oak trees around them
have withered and died. Their trunks
still tower and their branches spread,
but of green leaves there is not left a
yestige.
The nurserymen say: Drainage has
Gone this thing" and that wherever a
drainage pipe runs the oak must per-
ish.
Persons interested in the beautifying
OF their grounds, having foreseen the
inevitable dying of the oaks, have been
experimenting with other trees. The
result is that though the oak-with all
the associations which have chung to
that tree in every land in which it
grows-must go, there are other trees
beautiful in themselves which will
thrive in the place which the old forest
giant has left vacant
The head gardener at Lincoln park
has given some hints as to the compare
tive hardihoOd of trees and the kind of
soil to which each tree is adapted. The
cause of the death of the oaks, he says,
is the drainage of the soil, the oak hav-
ing tap root which takes up a great
share of the moisture necessary Tor the
| tree. The elm, on the other hand, has a
spreading root and does not require
anything like the amount of moisture
needed by the oak. Elms are thriving
all through the suburbs and in many
places in the heart of the city itself.
The soft maple and the catalpa are
coming to be characteristic trees of the
North side. The catalpa does especial
ly well along the lake shore Some Of
these trees, planted nearly 20 years ago,
show not single dead twig. Perhaps
the catalpa's only drawback is the fact
that the leaves drop early. The soft
maple will live and thrive if care be
taken of it. Wood boring insects like it,
and the branches break easily.
The cottOnwoods and some varieties
of the poplar will thrive without more
| than mOdicum of care. The balsam
| poplar, however, is apt to become the
prey OF insects, while the Lombardy
poplar, which points like lance to the
sky, is apt to be short-lived amid the
surroundings of civilization.
Many experiments have been made in
Chicago in the last ten years with the
| iolanthuS, or Tree of Heaven. It is a
! beautiful shade tree and an exceedingly
rapid grower, and insects seem to avoid
it. 1t needs, however, some degree of
| shelter in severe winters, though sew
eral of these trees in Lincoln park stood
the extreme cold of last year without
injury. The iolanthus in three years
growth is of sufficient size to shade a
porch.
Gardeners say it is useless for city
residents to plant pines or spruces.
Smoke kills them. A Norway maple
will do well under almost any condi-
tions, as will the Caroline poplar and
some other varieties of Chicago
/