File:American homes and gardens (1912) (17966751370).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar91912newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
April, 1912 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS XXV THE PROPER CARE OF SHADE TREES IN CITIES AND TOWNS By ISAAC MOTES THE man with even an elementary knowledge of forestry is often rilled with indignation while walking the streets of cities and towns, when he sees beau- tiful shade trees being tortured to death bv slow degrees. Even city foresters, who ought to know better, seldom give their trees ideal conditions for growth, though this must surely be because, with so many to look after, such an extent of city streets, parkways and parks to care for, they haven't the time which they need to devote to the trees. This is all the more to be regretted, because with plenty of water for sprinkling trees will grow better than in the forest, for it is lack of moisture more than lack of a rich soil, which causes a tree to languish. It is sad to see a tree starved for lack of moisture, or murdered by being crowded too closely between the edge of the sidewalk and the curbstone. Not only should the trunk of the tree not be crowded, but there should be a strip wide enough to make sure of the tree's getting enough water where it stands in locations which make it impossible to sprinkle. And this strip should be level, and be kept always loose and loamy. It is certainly a reflection upon the city forester, or the owner of a fine residence block in city or town, that trees are more graceful and healthy in natural groves than in yards and parks and along city streets. It is safe to say that at least one-fifth of the trees you see along the streets of a city are defective in some particular. They have rotten, deformed trunks, or they have scars where they have been wired to stakes, or else trees which require but little mois- ture have received too much, and this has caused a fungus growth upon their trunks, or a watery, spongy rot to attack the heart of the tree, and when this is the case with any tree it is doomed, though it may suc- ceed in living on for perhaps a dozen years. The tree planter should know the nature especially of every tree he sets out near the sidewalk. He should look ahead and be able to tell how much room the tree will need twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years hence. He should know how long the tree may be reasonably expected to live, and how large its trunk will be at that time, for some trees live for centuries, and grow until the year of their death, while others live only thirty, forty or fifty years, and stop growing years before they die. If a long-lived tree, one which grows large and tall, there should be plenty of room for the trunk to increase in size, and for moisture to soak into the ground around it. If the space between the outer edge of the side- walk and the curbstone is narrow a segment of the sidewalk should be left out, its width depending upon the character of the tree and the probable size to which it will grow There should be no grass around young trees, but rather a circle of bare, level earth, to enable trees to drink in all the moisture they can, in order to form a good root growth, but later, after the trees get larger, this bare place may be allowed to grow up in grass, especially if the tree stands upon level ground. If on a hilside, and the tree is a moisture demanding one, like the cottonwood, boxelder, black walnut or catalpa, the turf around it should be kept somewhat loosened by sticking a slender, sharp pointed pick into the earth and prying it up slightly, but not enough to kill the grass, thus enabling more moisture to soak into the ground.
Text Appearing After Image:
DAVEY TREE EXPERT WORK ON THE CAPITOL GROUNDS WASHINGTON D.C Sample and Circular Free A House Lined with Mineral Wool as shown in these sections, is Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer, and is thoroughly DEAFENED. The lining is vermin proof; neither rats, mice, nor insects can make their way through or live in it. MINERAL WOOL checks the spread of fire and keeps out dampness. CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED U. S. Mineral Wool Co. ckoss-section through floor. 140 Cedar St., IN.LW YUKK. 141Y

Note About Images