Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-06-20
BEST STREET TREES
THE RELATIVE VALUE OF SPECIES
FOR BEAUTlFYlNG TOWNS.


Enduring-Onk Trees Said to lie
Among the best For Streets Owing
20 Their Freedom From Disease.
Where there is long, solid block Of
houses newly erected cooling shade is
generally desired quickly because the
building operator looks only for imme-
date results. What may occur fifteen
or twenty years hence is of little con-
Germ to him, says the Philadelphia
Ledger. a rapidly growing tree and
one easy to manage is what he re-
quires. TO this end the ordinary Caro-
lima poplar or the silver maple meets
the requirements exactly. But the
owner Of Il property who expects to
use it as a permanent home would not
be justified in selecting either of these
trees, because in q few years they be-
come too large, and the tree butcher,
with saw and AK, is likely to be call
ed in, and he is only the precursor Of
the final decay of the trunk and
branches within a short time.
The genuine tree lover wants some
thing more satisfactory and enduring.
He is willing to have the shade come
more gradually providing he can have
a beautiful tree at the same time.
This is where the difficulty of selection
comes in, for, while the rapidly grow
ing species cited, thrive in almost any
soil or situation, the rarer trees are
apt to have likes and dislikes in this
particular. Further, some which do
ha al nd ot1
ers which will thrive have peculiarities
which detract somewhat from their
value. For instance, the ginko, or
maidenhair tree, has remarkable
power of nourishing in spite of noX-
ious gases prevalent in cities and which
are so detrimental to Norway and SUI
gar naples, but it has most too much
of an erect habit for shade giving pur-
poses.
Nurserymen of experience declare
that in combination of good fea-
tures-that is to say, comparatively
rapid growth, an umbra geous head and
freedom from disease and the attacks
of insects-the various species of oak
promise to be among the best selections
for city streets. Like the gingkO, the
oaks do not seem to suffer so much
from gases, and this is particularly
true of the pin oak.
OF other trees of comparatively rapid
growth the white ash is showing sim
liar adaptation. Unlike the Carolina
poplar and the silver maple, it grows
in beauty from year to year instead of
becoming a painful object to the eye.
| The catalpa has been much praised of
late, but, aside from its winter disfg-
urement on account of it's dry bean
pods, worm has recently shown a
particular fondness for the leaves, and
thus it can hardly be considered fur
| Their
With many, successful tree is the
horse chestnut. 1t is sometimes regard
| ed as of slow growth but this depends
| in a great measure on the character of
the soil in which it is planted. In rich
earth, if of considerable depth to ac-
! commodate the taproot, the tree will
often make an annual growth of from
| eighteen to twenty inches which is not
| far behind trees classed as rapid grow.
| ing. The horse chestnut never requires
| beheadipg and has natural tendency
to spread without becoming too tall
The chief objection to the tree is that
its leaves mature as early as the first
week in September; on the other hand
it is among the first to welcome the
coming spring with its unfolding leaves.
There is another class sometimes
named as desirable, but which is apt tC
become too large and unwieldy before
many years have passed-the European
plane is one and the white and yellow
American elms are others. The first
named sometimes reaches such nam
moth proportions that one of them is
said to have sheltered a large detach
ment of Alexander the Greats army
The elm is susceptible of injury from
the elm leaf beetle, but where the Eng
fish sparrow fiOurishes there is no dan
ger to be apprehended from this source
but lately destructive parasite which
destroys entire branches in a single
| night has fastened on the elm