Evening journal., 1909-12-22
CARE OF The
CITY'S TREES
Mr.. WitherS, an Expert, Gives
Interesting Lecture on the
Subject at High School
WILMINGTON SHOULD
HAVE A FORESTER

teal talk on tree culture by John T.
Withers at the High School last night.
went away actively interested Judging
by the scraps OF conversation overheard
We've got couple OF trees that need
IT'S shame the way people treat'-etc.
In his Introductory and closing remarks,
state Senator George w. Sparks. Of the
Board OF Directors OF the Street and
Sewer Department. expressed the hope
that property owners would pay for
treatment Of the trees along their own
property fronts The work would be
done by competent men at lowest cost
and Immediately The board would have
no funds until next summer, a bad time
for the trees.
Mr.. Withers showed slides OF famous
trees, among them the Charter Oak. 1,4Oo
years old: the Liberty tree, possibly 500
years old: the Penn Elm, the Yosemite
and Mariposa Grove big trees where
there are trees 825 feet hogh and 80 feet
in circumference.
In landscape architecture. the following
points were given: Mass your trees,
shrubs and flowers instead OF dottins
them over the lawn. The dotting makes
the lawn look smaller. and leaves the
flower beds without background. Mask
foundations OF buildings with shrub
berry.
He showed a slide OF the Court House
and spoke OF the need OF borders and
masked foundations there. Seats around
trees do no harm unless they touch the
bark. II not too thick, trees are healthy
as well as ornamental around a house
They take surplus moisture from the air
and equalize the temperature since
tree is warmer in summer and cooler IN
winter than the surrounding atmos-
phere.
Trees and shrubs do not need annual
pruning. It should be done right after
the Towering season in shrubs. Pruning
should always be evenly all over. instead
OF a looping of OF all the branches and
the top. In top-chopping. a bunch OF
branches shoot out from the top and are
too crowded to over gain strength. Cut
ting should always be at branch-inter-
sections for sap will not run into the
few inches Of stump left, and fungus
growths will form and spread through
the entire tree. 10 planting trees do not
: do ii too deeply OF the tree suffocatea.
, The hole should be large 80 that the
roots can be spread out widely. Instead
E of tamping down the earth, let plenty oi
] water run in and this VIII carry ar
E earth-coatng around the roots. Spray on
insects with arsenic Of lead. Wounds
caused by broken branches should re-
ceive immediate treatment before fungu,
growths can set in. In this case clean
cut close to the main trunk, and an
annually renewed coating OF. any good
lead and oil paint is sufficient.
Z Where decay has set in as IN cavities
] IL is necessary to clean out the decayed
matter and use an antiseptlc copper sui
phate wash Then the ICES receive a
cement filling. The best example given
here was the Liberty tree. which had a
cavity over Sc feet long. Iron rods plac-
ed perpendiculariy inside the hollow
trunk, and at intervals. iron bolts cross
wise through the trunk. and ffty-snx feet
Of concrete were used
The most important point in this worl,
IS that the cement shall not overlap the
bark at the edges OF the wound. The life
OF tree is not in its heart but ia the
cembium layer. directly under the rough
outer bark. This does the growing and
renewing. II the cement Is over the
- edges, this layer soon pushes It away
and a gap is left for fungus and decay
II the cement Is flush with the inner
wood. the bark grows over Il and soor
y seals it hermetically. The trouble with
= tin and wood nailed over cavities IS that
l they do not exclude air and moisture
l Bands around trees kill the trees becaus,
Il they destroy the cambium layer al
around Bolts through, and their end,
sealed with cement do no injury. If a
tree is 10 be used as a guy for wiring
it should have protruding bolts. no
. banding.
In planting trees on streets. streets eas
and west should have narrower trees thar
those north and south. and trees on
streets north and south should have trees
alternating not directly opposite. other
wise the Southern trees get all the light
. Many local views Of wrong treatment
were shown. One Of the most pleasinl
slides was the Swedenborgian Church
which the speaker considered a fine ex
ample OF the ornamental use Of ivy
The trouble with Wilmington was tha
: we had used silver maple and Carolinr
poplar instead of trees fitted TO stan,
wear and tear. He recommended thu
"Ginkgo" tree for Wilmington streets and
? showed lantern slide views of the tree
n which Is OF Japanese origin.
s Mr.. Withers spoke of the harm done
= in Wilmington by careless looping OF
= Of tree-branches by electric light and
lfOleN companies 70 dlloW cars 10 pas,
e and to facilitate wiring. Branches wer,
y cut off anywhere instead Of close II
j. the trunk. and were left unpainted
n so the tree must die. Bands were
n fastened around branches killing the
It growing cambium layer. and exposing
r. the tree to decay. He recommended
n city supervision by a commission I,
h prevent such injury