The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-12-27
LIVE OAKS ARE The BEST
Commissioner Atkins Discusses Their
Importance and Offers Some Timely
Suggestions as to the Improvement of
Streets of Shreveport.

oft1ce a general and concerted effort to
make it one of the most beautiful
We have the paved streets, but with
few exceptions they are bare of border
ing trees. Nothing so adds to the ap
pearance of an avenue as shade trees.
Every one appreciates this fact, and ev-
cry year hundreds of dollars are spent
on trees, but with little permanent effect.
The trouble is that few people know
anything about the proper selection,
transplanting and care which they re-
quire, and it is along these lines that I
wish to offer some suggestions.
PLACE, FOR TREES.
Experience has amply demonstrated
that it is waste of money and time to
plant trees between the sidewalk and
curb where this space is less than five
feet wide and the street is paved Under
such circumstances the paving and side
walk cut off the air and moisture from
the soil, the raats have not sufficient
space and the tree is not properly nour-
ishe1 The result is that its growth is
dWarfed, or if by chance it should grow
in spite of the unfavorable conditions,
its roots tear up the sidewalks and the
curbing.
| On streets having such narrow ban
quotes, the row of trees should be
planted inside the lots, say six feet from
the property line. With proper attention
they would then make good growth and
when they reached a height of twenty
or thirty feet would not be injured by
| the electric wires.
| SELECTION OF TREES.
Tree planting here is left almost en-
tirely to a few negroes who dig the
trees from the neighboring woods.
These negroes are we'll meaning but as
a rule utterly ignorant of the proper
methods for. successful transplanting.
Usually they plant large trees, four or
five inches in diameter, trimmed off
about like post and rammed down into
just about the size hole one would dig
for post. The roots are rarely over
eight inches or a foot long, and wholly
inadequate to support the large trunk.
The result is that these trees (alWays
'guaranteed') put out in the spring and
die during the summer, or they may live
ten years or longer but never make any
appreciable growth. Decay sets in at
various points in the tree and it never
RECEIVERS. Trees this size and much
larger are successfully transplanted in
many cities but it is by the use of tree
planting machines which dig up the tree
and transplant it with large part of
the original dirt left undisturbed about
its roots Without such machines this is
impracticable except at heavy expense.
Nursery stock can be obtained as
cheap as these trees dug from the for
est, and there is no comparison in the
results. The forest tree is nourished
through the large roots by the smaller
branches or feed roots which are often
many feet from the trunk of the tree,
and in digging up the tree these feed
roots are cut off, and the tree must go
| through the slow process of developing
more feed roots before it can make any
growth whereas, nursery trees are an
nually transplanted after pruning of the
roots, SO that tree three or four years
old when purchased from nurs.ry has
its roots thick and well matted close to
the main stem. Such a tree begins a
vigorous growth Immediately after it is
set out.
If trees from the woods are planted,
select small ones, not over an inch and
half or two inches through at the base,
and young enough to have smooth green
bark-not rough and scaly bark. Such a
tree in three or four years will catch up
with larger one and will soon be a
larger, better tree in every respect
There is no economy in time nor money
in planting large trees. l know of an
instance where two sweet gums four
inches in diameter were planted FIVE
years ago. One died and was cut down,
leaving little shoot which came up
from the roots. This little shoot is now
a larger and much prettier tree than the
other which lived, and in FIVE years more
will be probably twice as large.
KIND OF TREES.
The water oak and the elm are among
the hardest and most popular. They
make fine trees and are of comparatively
rapid growth, but where there is mar
row space between the sidewalk and the
curbing of paved streets it is better to
plant a tree with main tap root and of
fewer lateral roots. The pecan and the
black walnut are best adapted for such
streets, especially the pecan, which not
only gives a fine shade but produces the
best mt in the world Only budded or