Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-07-20
A NEGLECTED field
OF FORESTRY WORK
City Tree a Stepping Stone to
Forest Preservation-some
Of the Problems.
BY JAcoe J. LEvlsoN.
Forester, Park Department, Brooklyn

rec problems too small TO deserve
heir skilled attention. hat all rests
With the forester himself. He can make
1 small or he can find a field even
more varied and of as high a standard
as the work of those connected with
he national forests.
The city tree Isl the natural stepping
tone to the broader problem of ma
iona! forest preservation. III forest
legislation is to be effected at all, then
The interest of all citizens must be en-
listed. The average nan acquires his
rrst lesson in forest conservation from
The trees around his own home In
which he is naturally most interested
and which ave for him 81 definite
meaning. The forester in his plea for
he saving of national resources un-
iess the public has been taught some
phases of the question in terms of local
conditions, will fail to convert as many
!" his way of thinking on forest poll
.ies as he would had more attention
been paid to city trees and their rela-
lion to forestry.
The ordinary problems of the city
forester are planting, determination of
Insects and disease, and protecting the
street trees from accidental or wilful in
Jury. such as cutting down of trees by
shopkeepers whose stores they may
slightly screen protecting the trees
from injury by public service corpora
ions and private promoters, and
guarding them against gnawing horses.
house movers and street graders. There
are different ways OF doing even this
work. There may be the old fashioned
erroneous way or the way of the mod
trn forester. There are very
Few trained foresters In this country
i'm charge of parks and street trees and
the old fashioned methods or rather
n" methods still prevail.
Knit there :ra hipQar. nrnhlpmS in CITY
tree work. The city forest park idea
affords Il chance to establish a model
forest right in the city and to lay the
principles of conservative forest man
agenaent right at the threshold of ev-
cry citizen. The parks of our cities
lave hitherto been looked Upon in most
Instances as s~torehouses for elaborate
buildings. ornamental cut stone and
floral designs, so that the COMMON con-
cepticn of a city park is the usual
costly and ornamental park found in
almos every city. People USUALLY do
not hin of the possibility of having
bits of woodland or miniature forests
in the city. There are only a few for
est parks in this country and while the
cities are still young 1t is possible for
them to set aside small tracts of wood
land in their suburbs at a small cost.
and within a few years they will find
themselves the possessors of ground not
only worth many times the original
cost. but also of inestimable value to
the health and development of the cit
liens.
The people of Brooklyn and Queens
have set aside a tract of 536 acres of
woodland in the heart of the city for
a forest park and they are not a bit
sorry for it now. There ave as yet
been no funds designated for the de-
velopmcnt OF this tract, but we sue
ceeded in establishing there a forest
nursery of $4,000 seeding trees at a
cost of ~ cents per tree. including the
planting.
This. too, is a novel feature in city
tree work n offers unlimited oppor-
tunities to the city forester. Citizens
and school children come to study this
nursery and they are beginning to
realize that tree planting is not SO
expensive after all. Even where we
have been obliged to buy larger trees
for our park planting, we " this
year purchased 500 oaks and many
other hardy trees two inches In diane
ter at 50 EACH, instead of resorting to
he usual method of buying larger
trees at 80 and $12 each. The younger
he planted at q considerably smaller
expense and in the end will catch up
in growth with the larger specimens.
The city forester can make his in
iuence strongly felt. He is constantly
III IouGI " lIAC1 L
solve their local tree problems. He
meets them i'm their homes. he lectures
to them i'm the public schools and to
civic and social organizations, he
writes for the local papers, magazines
and school journals.
Thu city forester can bring the parks
and b~oulevards in closer touch with
citizens. He car teach them to kno
the common trees by labelling promi-
nent specimens in the parks and
along the b~oulevards. He can issue
guides to the trees for those DESTROYS
of more detailed study; he can have
exhibits showing the various phases of
trees planting and care. In Brooklyn
we have had four exhibits of this sort
in the past year. He can form tree
clubs among adults and among school
problems in the planting and care OF
the trees in their locality.
We already have several such tree
clubs in our schools and the adul,
club idea is spreading with equal ra-
p1dity. Several have been recently
formed i'll Brooklyn. where the resi-
dents Of certain streets got together
operatively on their streets. Thi.
method insures uniformity OF species
form and age in the trees and con
siderably reduces the cost. 1t ais.
brought out innate civic pride OF tn,
club members, and instead of stoppin,
short with the trees. they invariabl!
went right on seeking other improve
ments and inspiring the residents o
their neig!lboring streets to do tn,
same.
The schools are much in need o
trees around them and the children
can be made to plant them. The con
ditions in Brooklyn show this. where