Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1904-10-01
TREES FOR ROADSIDE

ShrubberN ana turning to advantage
what nature herself has done by way
of suggestion. says the Chicago Chroni-
Gle. Some cities, notably Portland. Ore.
nave gone to work in earnest to beau
tify the streets with shade trees and
plants of Il hardy nature. Rochester,
y. Y. has extended the work to the
roads which enter the city. 1t has pro
posed to plant Il certain number of
trees every year until the chief turn
pixies are bordcrcd with them from
Rochester to the boundaries of the
county.
Fertile as is the soil of many states,
the country roads are dcSolatc for
want of trees and little or no effort Is
made to remedy the lack Individuals
here and there set out trees in front Of
their own premises. and then come
long stretches of shabby waste land
that could easily be made inviting to
the eye and Il protection from the wind
and sun.
Clubs and other organizations having
the public good at heart would do well
to start the Impetus toward the lun-
The work once begun would - on al
most of its own momentum. and the
result would he a permanent beauty
that would have Il commercial as we'll
as aesthetic value.
Henry l.. Morrison. civil ENGINEER,
writing in Good Roads Magazine on
this subject. says:
&. n #
growth along the lines of streets roads
and avenues Is more nearly fruitful in
producing financial benefit and p.CaSn':
and attractive surroundings than any
other Investment that can he mad" in
the way of public improvements. On
merchandising country roads II proper
location of trees protects the roadncI
from the direct rays of the sun. which
dry out the plastic cushion forming the
covering coat.
"Properly distributed tree growth
along the sides of n road has the adj
vantage of breaking the sweep of Tie
wind, which carries off the dried out
covering cushion of the macadanI. The
covering having been blown away. the
wind now teaches ont the binding ma
tcrlal from spaces between the stones
of the pavement, the stones then be
come loose. and picking and ravclInG
begin and the road becomes instead
of Il pleasing surface for traffic Il YER
liable nuisance and danger to vehicles
and horses hoofS. The replacing and
repairing Of the road run into the use
of new stone. additional binding mate
rial and top surface, together with the
expensive operation Of II steam roller.
costing the community maintaining
the road annually no small sum of
money.
1.-THE proper shading of these same
roads by means of trees prevents the
direct action of rain, which washes out
the material forming the covering coat
and the binding. Properly shaded
roads are less expensive to maintain
because they are shaded. and the an
nual cost of sprinkling. which is prose
cuted for maintenance purposes. will
cost 10 per cent less when the advan-
tages of tree growth are secured for
rond system than when they ar" I'M
shaded.
IF wisely done, there Is no invest
ment for the country road which can
be more helpful than tree planting.
There Is no one Improvement that mu-
nicipul engineering can arrange for
that can help a locality so much as
tree planting.
''Therc is much difference of opinion
concerning the location of the trees of
n town or village street. MS to whether
they should be located back of the
fence or on the curb line. If located
on the curb line of sidewalks which
are of the ordinary width the curb line
will he thrown ont and IRREGULAR i'm
DroDOrtiOn 81; the tree growth increases
If located back of the fence line there
is Inconvenience for the Dropcrty own
crs i'm the shane of ovrrshndiur the
lawn with less advantages in conse-
uucnce of less ShndInr for the road
system Trees so located I'm thickly
settled villages or I'm cities are. of
course ont of the question.
"If thc strects ore Of ordinary width
and land not held Mt fancy prices s,
that erch pnrtIculor resident secures
more than the ordinary TWENTY-FIVE
foot LOT i'm the interest of we'll oDpcor-
Inc onL VOL maint,iuel streets the
fonco line IS the better location for the
FREQ On country roads the hest loca-
tio,, fnr fin, trocs is hcynrJ tha ,uttcr