Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-31
ID. c. TREE PLANTING
CONFINED TO NEW
STREETS THIS YEAR
Department Beautifying Bar
rem Thoroughfares Rather
Than Replace Old Vacancies.
MUCH ATTENTION ALSO
Is GIVEN TO TRIMMING
Appropriation of $122,5 Made
for Upkeep and Fresh Growth
in District.

The Trees and Parkings Department
is devottng its planting energies this
year to getting new streets lined with
trees and no work will be done in
replacing vacancies in the existing lines
where trees have died from the drought,
old age or other causes. About $500
young trees are set out in the Spring
planting season, and probably the same
number will be put out when the Fall
season comes around, but all of them
will be on new streets which have never
before had any shade trees.
The reason for the preference this
year, according to Supt. Clifford Lam
ham, is the heavy demand for trees on
the new streets and the impossibility
of doing both types of work stimuli
taneously on the appropriations now
available.
I'VE have =3w 5000 vacancies in our
lines of trc/,. These could be filled in
two planting seasons. and some time in
the near future I will devote a planting
season entirely to requirements. But,
after all, the streets which have not
single tree should receive our first con-
sideration. and there are miles of them.
The Highway Department keeps open
ing them up much faster than We can
plant them" Mr.. Lanham said.
1850 Trees on Streets.
Planting trees Is only small part
of our job anyway, one of the biggest
parts is keeping the trees healthy dur
ing the years they live after they are
planted. We have about 112,500 street
trees in Washington. To spray these
trees costs approximately 6 cents per
tree, so that to spray each tree once
year you can see that We spend more
fhaT CnfaUdd
with arsenate of lead solution, and
hope the people of Washington are
noticing that we have kept the bugs
away from the trees successfully this
year. There used to be some Summers
when the bugs would strip some trees
clean.
Next is the matter of tree surgery
and trimming We are going to do
great deal of trimming this year, so as
| to get the trees looking the best for
| the Bicentennial celebration next year.
We have very little tree surgery done,
\ as we cannot afford it, but we could
save lot of fine trees If We had the
money. Much of the work we have to
do would be unnecessary II the street
| trees had been laid out better in the
| first place. Some Of them are ID, "a
and 80 feet apart. Our planting sys-
1 TEN now allows a minimum distance
OF 40 1eeG D6JNSeu IIlc oAld11SSG bACSoS
| and some American elms we planted on
Bladensburg road recently were 100 feet
apart.
Some Too Close Together.
Paintings such as those on New
| HAMPSHIRE avenue, said to be the most
beautiful street in the city, are really
not well done The trees are too close
| together, their limbs interlock, and
| there is too much shade for the under
parts of the trees, which tend to wither
and die. The avenue would be twice as
beautiful with greater intervals between
the trees.
Then again, in their desire to get
quick results. those who laid out the city
| planted faSt-growing trees. We have
about 10000 old silver NAPLES on the
streets as q result of this. At least
| 10000 of these are rotten and should
| be cut down and replaced with other
| trees
The appropriation for his department
for the current fiscal year is $122,500,
! which is just enough to allow him to
maintain the trees he has properly.
without putting out any additions, ac-
| cording to Mr.. Lanham. Even so. the
District fares much better in the matter
of trees than it used to. When Mr.. Lam
ham entered the department in 1892 the
appropriation for the whole department.
| for all purposes, was $4,000. In the
1881 fiscal year it had risen to $l15,000.