Evening star., 1932-01-21
GRANT DESCRIBES
SAVING Of TREES
Tells Civic Association of
Work Being Done to Over
come Drought Effects.

With limited funds at its disposal,
the ONCE Of Public Buildings and Pub
lie Parks Is doing a good job Of restor-
ing and treating the hundreds of trees
in Washington that suffered from the
severe drought of the past two Sum-
mers, Lieut.. Col. U. S. Grant, Sd, re-
ported yesterday afternoon at a public
session of the executive board of the
American Civic Association.
With few exceptions. Col. Grant said
those trees which have been Scientif1-
cally treated are in excellent condition
now. although 400 trees in all were lost
during the drought period. The only
ones that are not faring so well are a
group Of great oaks in Montrose Park.
owing to their great age they have not
responded to treatment quite as well as
others. and he expressed the fear that
one or two Of them might die.
EIms Need Treatment.
1t would have required an appropria-
ton of $4,000 to attend rightly to all
the shrubs and trees damaged by the
drought. Col. Grant said. and owing to
the limited means at the disposal of
the experts. only the most important
trees could be treated.
The elms around the Ellipse which
Col. Grant said had been called the
finest anywhere outside of New Eng
land, are in need of special treatment.
Nearly all these elms, he said, have
roots doubled over others, the effect
being like that of tourniquet, shut
ting out much needed moisture In
referring to some of the difficulties en-
Countered in treating various trees, Col
fayette Park required IL days for treat
ment.
Experiments conducted with trees on
Constitution avenue between Eight
eenth and Nineteenth streets, Col.
Grant said, have been important in
connection with soil treatments for the
ordinary trees along the traffic lanes
of the city. He admitted that many Of
these are in bad shape, due chiefly to
the encroachments of sidewalk paving
and the constant trampling of feet over
the little space allotted to them. The
experiments resulted in the discovery,
he said, Of a material used on tennis
courts which is particularly well adapt
ed for depoSiting around trees planted
along the streets. This material with
stands hard trampling and has proved
good for moisture purposes.
maintenance FUNDS Drop.
Col. Grant said that while appro-
priationS for purchasing additional
park lands have been encouragingly
generous, he contended that the ap-
preparations for maintenance have
steadily declined in proportion.
During the 20 years from 1911, he
pointed out, maintenance appropria-
tionS have decreased from an average
of 1924 per acre to $l65 per acre, while
the total park area has increased from
approximately TOO acres to 4,511 acres.
He said his Office has been trying to
get the appropriations for maintenance
raised again to the average Of 225 an
acre.
Frederic A. Delano, president of the
American Civic Association, presided
at the meeting, which followed the
annual session of the executive board
of the Organization. one of the in
teresting features of the annual meet
ing was a roadside exhibit showing
the effect of billboardS on the land
scape. This was prepared by Mrs. Ed
ward H. McKeon Of the Garden Clubs
of Maryland 1t was in two sections.
One showed typical country roadside
barricaded with billboards, hot-dog
stands and, other features that hid
the natural landscape from the view
OF MOTORISTS. Inc OIHer SnOWeu Ile
effect on the same road with these
objects removed
Members of the executive board at
tending the meeting were Mr.. Delano,
J. C. Nichols of Kansas City, first
vice president; Miss Harlean James Of
Washington, executive secretary; Alex
Ungern-Sternberg Of Washington, ex-
tension secretary; Mrs Edward r. Pad
gett of Washington, librarian; Mrs.
Benjamin w. Corkran, jr., of Balti-
more; Mrs Caroline Bartlett Crane of
Kalamazoo, Mich; James Ford Of
Cambridge, Mass; Edwin c. Graham
and John M. Cries of Washington,
Morris Knowles Of Pittsburgh, Pa;
Electus D. Litchfeld of New York City,
Warren H. Manning Of Cambridge,
Mass, and S. P. Wetherill of Phila
Gelphia