The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1921-09-14
PLANTING STREET TREES
A MUNICIPAL FUNCTION
In Congested Centers Trees Have
Been Sacrificed TO Business
interests

One of the characters in an early
day American romance Of the time
when the Stamp Act was causing all
kinds Of trouble is recorded as de-
claring that New York never would
be real business city because
Broadway and Maiden Lane we're
lined with trees. The Van Vrooms,
the Stuyvesants, the Artavelts, and
other early settlers of the country
saved fine trees about their homes,
on the village greens, along the
country roads, and in the fields.
But one will see no trees nowadays
on Broadway, and Maiden Lane has
been transformed from the pleasant,
tree-bordered region of Dutch homes
with flower gardens into the busiest
wholesale jewelry district in Amer
lea, If not in the world.
Business Streets Bare Of Trees
Beauty and comfort gave way to
the inroads of commerce, not only
in New York but in most of Amer
ica's great cities, so that to-day trees
in business street are a rare
sight. There are elm-shaded villages
in New England: maple-shaded
towns in New York and the Ohio
Valley, and there are oak-tree
streets to be seen in the Southeast
ern States, but for the most part
this refers only to small towns or
to the congested CEN
tiers of population where they should
have been preserved. Washington,
the National Capital, is one of the
exceptions, and even there the plant
ings were not always wisely ar
The tree growth on the streets of
the average American town or city
is ragged and unkempt in appear
ance, while that of the suburb or
small village often is not much bet
ter unless the planting has been
done under municipal control, and
the paintings on street have been
confined to a single kind of tree.
The telegraph, the telephone, the
electric light, and the trolley caN
have added their share toward the
or destruction of the good
trees that were in existence at the
time of their coming.
Faulty methods of pruning have
caused Disagreement and ruin.
Success follows the careful plant
ing of good trees which are given
adequate protection and timely at
tention,' says Farmers Bulletin
1909, Planting and Care of Street
Trees, just issued by the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Every tree should be trained to its
proper form while young, so that
severe pruning will not be necessary
later. Guards are necessary, too,
for sevearl years.
Unpaid Commission Does Best Work
The bulletin insists that provid-
ing shade on city streets is as much
a municipal function as providing
lights or sidewalks and should,
therefore. be cared for by public
officials. Probably the most efficient
way of arranging for proper super
vision, it says, Is through an unpaid
commission of three or five members
which in turn employs an executive
officer. Methods of organization
are described, and numerous illu-
STATIONS show how trees should be
planted. There are chapters also
pruning. spraying. trans
planting, and other subjects of inn
portance to every town or city
it has trees or wishes to
have them. The bulletin may be
had free upon application to the
Division of Publications. United
States Department of Agriculture,
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