The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-02-05
pennsylvania Expert yves His
Opinion ON Care olRich-
mond Trees
SUGGESTS MANY REMEDIES
Says City Engineer Should Have
Entire Charge olths Trees
Of the Gty.

the reports furnisheIthe city officials by
experts are claimlnfno little attention.
Colonel w. f. cehnw. city engineer.
has written tho flowing letter to Mr..
George b. sudwort regarding his report,
which was in pardately printed in Tho
Times-Dispatch:
Colonel Clshaw's Letter.
Office oftity Engineer.
Riehntld. Va, Jan. 81. 1906.
Mr.. George b. Idworth, Chief of Dt-
vision of Delrology. U. 8. Agricul-
tural Departf,nt. Washington, .. c.:
Dear Sir,---I bf to acknowledge receipt
on Saturday las January 9th, of copy
OF your reportabout the trees of our
city, which yo kindly examined for us
the I'D OF Angst last The delay in re-
ceiving your x'ort and our planting sea-
son rapidly ,proaching. induced us to
engage the sFices OF Mr.. Thomas Nee
han, of Drclertown, Pa, to make
similar exarnation OF our trees. which
he did on pvember II, 1906. ! enclose
you herewit copy of his report made
December 1906. which L hope may be
OF interesto you. I am glad that your
observation and suggestions CONFIRM
what Mr.. nehan and others have recom-
mended fobetter methods OF pruning and
caring foIthe wounded trees.
l must hank you for the copies t3D
OF pubtited bulletins and circulars
but In liking over them regret to say
we do pt find any direct Information
concernis the radiance Of insect pests
which fTe been troubling us. or of any
dlstinctihles for tree planting and prep
arationfor II; but your letter OF this
morninI however. directing us to the
chief etomologist for advice about in
sects "a the chief OF the Bureau Of
trees. b whom shall write for advice
] hop Will meet our questions abont
these iests. To whom should we write
for SUGGESTIONS and rules about planting
and sfcing of trees2 From the troubles
that 70 have already had with some
of oWtrees, and upon the advice given
us blythe United States Agricultural De-
partul about six or eight years ago con-
other rees since. such as tho ash borer
maple and the fungus growth on the
Eurofan Lindens. would you advise the
.piantig OF these trees until these nests
are aholuteiy eradIcated? From our ex-,
periere In the past we do not think the
instha OF planting thick and thinning
Suic. except In the nurseries, should
be aGpted. and we, therefore. at present.
unhi petter reasons can be given, prefer
10 pant tine distances apart tha, tho
tres are TO remain ut permanently wa
~ nos MINK tne cottonwood should be
SOS can be given for cuitIvating II than
W already know. >'''i''
Hhere the trees that were planted
Sars ago, from wounds and neglect.
i've now become large SHELLS with hol,
lged trunks. and especially where they
ae spaced too near together. would VOL,
aplse plugging and attempting to heal
.hese trees or would you cut them
Ds.r "A -.
freperly spaced In their places?
nope we do not ask too much OF Won
~ the department has already been very
generous generous In giving US the benefit of your.
w. p. CUTSHAW. City Engineer.
The Meehan Report.
Dresher,own. Montgomery Co. Pa.
Col W. E. cutshaw. city Engineer. Rich
mond. Va:
Dear Sill have the honor to hand you
herewith my report upon the condition, of
the trees In the several squares and marks
and upon the streets In the city of Rich.
mond and my suggestions and recom-
Hlendatlons In connection Herewith.
Monroe Square.
!. The trees in this square are generally
IN IN serg good condition, but the time has
arrived when 1t Is necessary to cut out
some OF them to prevent injury to others
que 70 the oyer-crowdng. / recommend.
therefore,. that where certain trees OF the
commoner varieties are !nJuring the rarer
sorts, they be removed at once. This VIII
permit these choice trees to develop into
n ae speeim ms which will give al shade
the public interest.
In nearly every instance where this
growth Of. such trees as the silver MAPLE lar
silver poplar and the empress tree. which
at the best are short lived. and on ac-
count OF their soft and brittle wood are
liable to be badly broken by storn,-some
OF them now. being in such condition from
this cause that their removal Is impera-
Moreover. the silver NAPLES are badly
infested with the maple scale, which. IL
not checked. either by spraying sthe trees
infest the other. trees, and in time viii
cause serious injury: and, in fact, finally
destroy, the hner trees which 1t is most
noted particularly the. following cases.
"a large red maple that is almost COM
that all attempts to clean the tree. by
spraying would be futile;
A fine specimen Of deodar cedar, a very
Of an elm. This elm should be taken out
and another planted in an open space some
City feet away, where a tree is needed,
A beautiful tree OF the magnolia grand
flora is crowded by n silver maple, and
a silver poplar, preventing the develop
ment OF the Dlagnolla. q Tree that should
be encouraged particularly, because 1t
adds IL touch of green in the winter. there
being so few evergreens In the Square.
In another case a silver maple is dam
aging, by crowdlng, group OF strong,
vigorous willow oak, gingko and Norway
maple.
ri may seem wanton to cut out these
trees, which at first appearance seem to
be giving the shade. hut can assure Won
that after these trees are removed and
the debris cleared away few. II any, win
notice that they are gone, and the trees
remaining will give all the shade REQUIRED,
1t should be kept In mind, too that in
the original planting of these trees 1t was
Intended that they were to be for tenn
sporary purposes only and We're TO he re-
moved when the permanent trees reach
ed a sufficient size. The general arrange
ment of the planting in every case bears
out this assertion The cutting out of
these trees now will only be carrying out
There are Instances where these COM
moner trees are standing alone, or not
crowding the more valuable varieties,
and in such cases these trees should not
be touched, but 1t would be "a policy to
plant now some young hard wooded
trees near thom. as the time will come
when these soft wooded trees will have
to be removed and by making such plant.
ing nowsthey will be somewhat developed
+r1 IN oYIt 1,a