Street Trees

Part 1

Transcriber Note

Whole and fractional parts are shown as 2-1/2. Emphasis shown as Italics and =Bold=.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

=BULLETIN No. 816=

Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry

Wm. A. Taylor, Chief

------------------------------------------------------- Washington, D. C. [Illustration] January 19, 1920 -------------------------------------------------------

=STREET TREES=

=F. L. MULFORD, Horticulturist=

Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations

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CONTENTS

Page

Importance of Shade Trees 1

Public Control of Street Trees 6

Planning for Trees on City Streets 8

Spacing Trees 9

Conditions for Tree Growth 10

Kinds of Trees Suitable for City Streets 14 Qualities Necessary 14 Trees for Different Regions 16 Trees for Special Purposes 20

Descriptions of Street Trees 20

Culture of Street Trees 43 Selection of Individual Trees 43 Preparation of Holes 44 Planting 45 Pruning 50 Stakes and Guards 51 Later Care 52

Care of Mature Trees 53 Pruning 53 Feeding 55 Spraying 55

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1920

=BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY.=

William A. Taylor, Chief. K. F. Kellerman, Associate Chief. James E. Jones, Assistant to Chief. J. E. Rockwell, Officer in Charge of Publications.

Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations.

SCIENTIFIC STAFF.

Part 2

L. C. Corbett, Horticulturist in Charge.

Truck Crop Production Investigations:

J. H. Beattie. F. E. Miller. C. J. Hunn. B. J. McGervey.

Irish Potato Production Investigations:

William Stuart. C. F. Clark. W. C. Edmundson. P. M. Lombard. J. W. Wellington. L. L. Corbett.

Truck Crop Improvement Investigations:

W. W. Tracy. D. N. Shoemaker.

Landscape Gardening and Floriculture Investigations:

F. L. Mulford. W. Van Fleet.

Bulb Culture Investigations:

David Griffiths.

Fruit and Vegetable Utilization Investigations:

J. S. Caldwell. C. A. Magoon. C. W. Culpepper.

Fruit Production Investigations:

H. P. Gould. L. B. Scott. C. F. Kinman. George M. Darrow. E. D. Vosbury.

Grape Production Investigations:

George C. Husmann. Charles Dearing. F. L. Husmann. Elmer Snyder. G. L. Yerkes.

Fruit Breeding and Systematic Investigations in Pomology:

W. F. Wight. Magdalene R. Newman.

Fruit Improvement through Bud Selection:

A. D. Shamel.

Nut Investigations:

C. A. Reed. E. R. Lake.

Fruit and Vegetable Storage Physiology:

L. A. Hawkins. R. C. Wright. J. R. Magness. J. F. Fernald.

Extension Work (in cooperation with States Relations Service):

W. R. Beattie. C. P. Close.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Part 3

Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry

WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief

Washington, D. C. [Illustration] January 19, 1920

=STREET TREES.=

By F. L. Mulford, Horticulturist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations.

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CONTENTS

Page

Importance of Shade Trees 1

Public Control of Street Trees 6

Planning for Trees on City Streets 8

Spacing Trees 9

Conditions for Tree Growth 10

Kinds of Trees Suitable for City Streets 14

Qualities Necessary 14

Trees for Different Regions 16

Trees for Special Purposes 20

Descriptions of Street Trees 20

Culture of Street Trees 43

Selection of Individual Trees 43

Preparation of Holes 44

Planting 45

Pruning 50

Stakes and Guards 51

Later Care 52

Care of Mature Trees 53

Pruning 53

Feeding 55

Part 4

Spraying 55

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IMPORTANCE OF SHADE TREES.

The comfort to be derived from shade trees has long been recognized. The early settlers of this country saved fine trees about their homes, on the village greens, along the country roads, and in the fields. Later, as villages grew, the householders planted trees adjoining their properties, and the result has been the beautiful elm-shaded villages of New England, the maple-shaded towns of New York and the Ohio Valley, and the oak-shaded streets of the Southeastern States. (Fig. 1.)

With time, the villages and towns became cities, and the woodlands were largely destroyed. Conditions for tree growth were less favorable in the cities, and nurseries had to be depended upon for planting material. With these changed conditions the native trees of a region became less dominant in the city planting and were largely replaced by those trees listed in nursery catalogues which took the fancy of each property owner along the street. (Fig. 2.) The quickest growing trees were considered first, and as some of these made a big showing the first few years and were easily transplanted, they have become the dominating trees in street planting from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. (Figs. 2, 10, and 13.) A few have planted better and more lasting trees (figs. 1, 3, and 4); but the tree growth on the streets of the average town or city is ragged and unkempt in appearance, while that of the suburb or small village is not much better unless the planting has been done under municipal control and the plantings on a street have been confined to a single kind of tree.

Fig. 1.--An oak-shaded street in the South. Willow oaks in Birmingham, Ala., in late summer.]

Fig. 2.--A street with mixed plantings. The trees are of different kinds, some unsuited for the purpose, planted at varying distances apart, according to the inclination of the property holders. A street in Stockton, Calif., photographed in early summer.]

Fig. 3.--American elms on a city street in midsummer. All these trees were planted at one time at uniform distances apart by the Commissioners of Washington, D. C.]

The advent of such civilizing agencies as the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, and the trolley car have added each its share toward the mutilation or destruction of the good trees that were in existence at the time of their coming. Faulty methods of pruning also have caused much disfigurement and ruin. (Figs. 5 and 21.) To this mutilation has been added the unnecessary destruction of many trees in centers of business (fig. 6), because they excluded a little daylight, or made a store less prominent, or were somewhat in the way of using the sidewalk for merchandise.

In spite of all these troubles tree planting has continued because people love trees, enjoy well-shaded streets, and are willing to make efforts to get them. The trees on well-shaded streets are not only pleasing, but also contribute toward the health of the community by transpiring moisture into the atmosphere and by producing a restful effect on eyes and nerves. Red, especially, is known to have an exciting effect on human beings, and where city streets are well-shaded it makes less prominent those colors that might otherwise prevail and offend.

Good shade is so appreciated that its presence adds a value to adjoining properties. Real-estate men recognize this factor and plant shade trees as early as practicable on land which they develop. That the beauty of a city is improved by good street trees is becoming recognized more and more and is finding expression in the desire of garden clubs, civic improvement associations, and boards of trade for information on this subject.

Success in planting street trees can be attained only by planning and controlling the planting as a whole, by selecting the most suitable varieties, by securing trees in the best condition and planting them properly, and by giving the necessary later care.

While towns were small, conditions for tree growth favorable, and woodlands plenty, so that native trees were easily obtained and started, the practice of each householder planting his own trees as he saw fit gave good results. As towns became larger and impervious pavements took the place of earth roads, the conditions for tree growth became more severe and the results from the individual planting of trees less uniform. In large cities the conditions to be met are so extreme that it has become practically impossible for the average householder to grow street trees successfully, or to do so only at excessive cost. Then, too, a lineman in a few minutes often undoes what the individual has achieved with care and years of patient waiting (see fig. 5). The trees and the lines are both needed by the public, but when provided by individual initiative at private expense, but trimmed for the benefit of electric lines by employees of corporations intent on maintaining service at the least cost, the trees suffer unduly.

Fig. 5.--A tree mutilated by linemen. An otherwise beautiful red oak in Louisville, Ky., as it appeared in midsummer.]

In order to have good shade trees at a reasonable cost which receive timely and efficient attention, with the effective control of wire lines, the care of the trees needs to be vested in some adequate authority.

PUBLIC CONTROL OF STREET TREES.

Providing shade on city streets is as much a municipal function as providing lights or sidewalks and should, therefore, be cared for by public officials. All street trees should be directly under the care of duly appointed officers, who should be responsible for their planting and care, as well as for their pruning or removal. Negative control by requiring permits for planting, pruning, and removal is little better than no control.

Fig. 6.--A desert of asphalt in the business center of a city having less than 100,000 population.]

The officials in charge should have the necessary authority and should be required to initiate and carry forward planting and all other needed work connected with the establishment and maintenance of street trees. Probably the most satisfactory way of securing supervision is through an unpaid commission of three or five members, which in turn employs an executive officer. In a small place a commission of three persons may be best, one being appointed every 2 years for a 6-year term. In large places five members may be better, and the ideal term would be 10 years. A compromise would be a 5-year term, a new member being appointed each year. The great need of long-term appointees is that it takes two or three years for a member of such a board or commission to see and realize the things needed to be done and the policies that should be carried out. Because it takes a long time to get results in growing street trees, the policies should be as nearly continuous as possible and the terms of the members long enough to insure a majority of experienced persons on the board at all times.

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