The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-02
HARDDRIVE
 FOR BEAUTY Montgomery Must Begin Reform At Once POINTED ARTICLE BY MIR. COOK Wants Not Another Summer to
 Pass Like Last, Streets Must Be Cleaned of Rubbish, Trees Planted Between Walks
 and curbstones and
 Houses Painted.
POINTED ARTICLE BY MIR. COOK

In another one of his forcsful arr ticles, William c. Cook, the we'll known landscape expert, writing for The Advertiser. makes hard drive for the City Beautiful again. This time he appeals for the improvement of the street appearance of Montgomery and points out bow the reform should be started right now.
 The streets, In the opinion of Mir Cook, should be cleared of the enormous amount of rubbish-and barrels. boxes, paper and all sucL are included. He makes valuable suggestions of proper methods to improve the space between the curbstone and the sidewalk. He offerA 6 list Of the trees that are most suitable for street scenes.
 The article in full follows:
 In my former articles I dwelt on the general planting of the home grounds -To create "the City Beautiful" it is of equal importance to see to the prop CT planting of trees and shrubs along : the streets and now is the time to per- feet some sort of organized effort to- wards making our city "the City of Roses" as 1t has been called, one of the most beautiful in the entire south. The expense of such work would be trifing in comparison with the gen. eral effect produced.
 Through neglect, many abuses have been allowed to go unchecked until what might be an ornament has amounted to almost a nuisance. re- fer to the spaces between the curb stone ana the sidewalk. These spaces should be cleaned, properly graded and fertiiized and Bermuda grass either sown or sprigged in the soil. Over this perennial rye should be planted and carefully covered with rich earth or pulveriZed manure. All old. unslghtIy. or malformed trees should be removed as well as old cannas or other plants that have served their day.
 Dilapidated walls should be put in order. and all outh ouses and back fences should receive a coat of paint or Iifnewash; for nothing Is heater than white or more attractive as a background for the natural green fo- liage of the plants and trees.
 If there is a large space between the walk and the curb a few towering plants or fancy foliage shrubs. taste fully arranged in groups, would fur ther enhance the beauty of the scene, and if the entire street would adopt this plan of planting and caring for the sidewalk space, what a wonderful change 1t would produce In the appear Rnce of the town!
 Trees should not be closer than forty feet. The following varieties I would suggest asn being best suited for street planting: The elm, linden, water oak Oriental plane or sycamore. ash, tulip tree, varnish tree, hard and soft maple These should be planted in the fall or winter whenever the ground is fit to work. The Carolina poplar Is an excel lent tree for streets that are not paved, but the suckers interfere with the pavement when anywh ere near to the trees.
 The placing of unsightly barrels. boxes. etc, on the street line should be prohibited; in other words, the streets should be cleaned up and kept clear of all ob jects that do not add to their neat and prosperous appearance. It will take some persistent hammering $ to bring about those mucn-needed re- forms, but Montgomery will have to do 1t or else fall behind other cities in the march of progress. Our sister city of Birmingham Is working along these lines. aided by the Mayor and civic officers. and now is the tune for us tc act, and not let another summer pass with the city looking as it has during the past year.
 When nature has done so much it is the grossest sort of neglect for man te fail doing his share towards making his own particular corner of the earth blossom like 8 rose. If the apparel oft proclalms the man, so Is the char acter of a city proclaimed by It's ap- pearanee, and the stranger can have nc other means of judging than by what he sees.
 It requires something more than talk