The Washington herald., 1914-03-18

cause or the moderate cost of this Inn
provement and the comfort and. beauty
II gives TO the whole city. II is valuable
as a first step because 1t inspires the
community to further efforts In the same
direction. II costs the city of Washing
ton siSs a year to keep up a mile of
street planted In two or more rows of
trees. This cost includes the upkeep of
a most elaborate system OF ornamenta-
ton. the correction of past mistakes, the
operation of a great municipal nursery,
and the maintenance ot a high grade of
pay for manual labor. which the Federal
government has set for public work in
necessarily obtaining in other sections of
the country and therefore would make
the cost OF street tree planting smaller.
Yet at a cost of s1Ss per mile of planted
street, or even twice that cost. 1t Is
paving investment, for II beauties and
adds to the comfort and habitability Of
streets In certain less desirable quarters
Of the city. thereby keeping up the value
Of property that otherwise would be much
deprecated.
Variety for Each street.
A city that desires to enter upon this
phase OF civic Improvement can learn
much from Washington. For instance.
il will be found that In this city street
is planted all in one variety OF tree. The
reason for this, in the words OF the PARK
Commissioner, is that beauty produced
by repetition and continuity of the same
object IS destroyed when a mixture OF
species OF trees, different in form OF
growth and diversified as to foliage, is
introduced There are also economic
reasons, but the controlling one is that
cited bv the Park Commissioner. Thus
we have in Washington one wonderful
avenue, Massachusetts, avenue. which
presents an unbroken line OF fourteen
miles of linen trees, planted in part in
four rows. One row stands at each curp
line. and then upon the parking before
each house, one each side OF the street
and well inside OF the curb line there
stands an additional row of lindens As
a street planted in fragrant lindens there
is nothing in the world like II for a COM
bination of arboreal and residential splen-
dor.
PennsyIyania Avenues Beauty.
What the park department declares to
he the most beautiful street in the world.
from a tree planting standpoint. is Penn
sylvania avenue. from the Capitol south
east to the Anacostia River For miles.
as far as the eye can trace II, this wide
avenue is planted in alternating sections
of red oak and pin oak. There are four
rows of these beautiful trees on this
expansive thoroughfarc. One row at each
curb line. and two rows in a sort of safety
aisle in the center of the avenue. These
latter rows stand in two narrow grass
beds and between them runs a double
track electric car line. As in all the CEN
trail part OF Washington, there are no
overhead wires here, the cars running on
an underground third rail- while every
electric wire is in an underground con-
duit. There are no mansions along this
beautiful avenue. The Congressional Lii
brary and the Capitol are at one eld OF
it. Then come blocks of stores and shops. !
Of about the character that you will find |
in a thriving city of 5000 population. In |
terspersed are two, three. and four family |
flats. There is nothing ornate nor are
there evidences OF lavish social preten- |
sions. Everything is clean, neat, and |
common sense.
In Southwest Washington. the shipping |
and the old warehouse. mill, and lumber |
district, where rents are dirt cheap and |
the homes not modern. but rather hum |
BILE except for the cluster right around |
the Mall. the same attention to tree plant |
ing has been given as in the most preten-
tious section of the city. Thus it is that |
the laborer in his humble home on the |
street that was formerly a canal. looks !
upon the beauty and basks in the shade |
OF the finest lane of elm trees TO be found |
in Washington. a lane that is equaled |
only by some of the clusters OF elm In a \
few old New England cities.
Cite. should Control Trees.
Another thing that cities can learn
from Washington is that no system OF
street tree planting can be a success un-
less the city obtains absolute and COM
IL .-I
side of the private property line and rig
idly exercises its authority without fear
or favoritism. In Washington no citizen
may tamper with a tree planted on
street; no plumber may cut or disturb the
root of a tree without first obtaining writ
ten authority; no man may tic his horse
close enough to a tree to enable it to
the bark: no contractor may pile
for construction within three
feet OF a tree nor attach to 1t any rope
or guy wire; no citizen may in any man
ner trim or dispose or replant, or even
plant. a tree outside of his private
grounds And there are other regulations
with which the citizens cheeTfuly comply.
There is another lesson to be learned
from Washington. The city operates its
own nursery. and every tree set out in
in the last thirty years has
been grown from seed in the city nur-
sery. The loss from transplanting has
been very small. not exceeding per
cent The principal losses of trees has
been from gas and water pipe leakage.
and from coal tar or asphalt coming in
contact with the roots. Last year 2s5
trees were killed by gas leakage, while
insects killed only twenty-four. Insect
depreciation is held down by spraying.
the park department last year spraying
1889 trees at a cost of 81 cents a tree.
trees were saved from de-
struction by tree surgery at a cost OF
$3.50 per tree. The success OF the park
department with its transplanting and
growing of street trees on the edges of
the asphalt pavement is due TO the fact
that the excavation for transplanting
measures usually sixty-three cubic feet
and this is filled with rich black soil.
Trees are set from thirty to forty feet
apart, as the network of underground
water. gas. and sewer pipes will r<rmit.
Sycamore Proves SuccessfuI.
From what has been said here. 1t must
not be inferred that the trees OF Wash