We believe that no man ever walked under the magnificent elms upon the
Boston Common, or beneath the Lindens in Philadelphia, or through Elm
street in New Haven, without conviction of the beauty and utility of
shade-trees. Trees not only are objects of beauty—the architecture of
Nature—but they promote both health and comfort. Our ardent summers,
from June to October, make open, unshaded streets, almost impassable,
and reflect heat upon our dwellings from the side-walks and beaten
road.
In this country the growth of trees is so rapid, and the supply from
our own forests so abundant and convenient that every village and
city, and every well-conducted farm should be lined with shade-trees.
We will offer a few suggestions upon the kinds to be selected and the
manner of setting.
THE LOCUST (_Robinia pseudacacia_).—This tree is very popular, and is
almost the only one at the West set for shade-trees. It has a
beautiful form, grows very rapidly, bears a profusion of beautiful and
very fragrant blossoms (pendulous racemes of pea-shaped flowers), its
foliage is singularly pleasing—the young leaves being of a light
pea-green, and growing darker with age, so that in the same tree three
or four distinct shades of green may be seen; it grows freely in all
soils, and is not infested by any worms; its timber is almost as
durable as cedar, and in the West, is not subject to the attacks of
the _borer_, as it is in the East.
On the other hand, the tree becomes unsymmetrical with age, it is
brittle, breaking easily at slight wounds, even when they have healed
over. It is not a long-lived tree, and requires careful protection
from cattle.
We would advise a more sparing use of it. Let _every other_ tree be a
Locust, and the alternate maple or elm, oak, tulip, etc. By this
method the Locust will afford immediate shade, and when they become
unsightly the intervening trees will have grown to a goodly size. The
Locust should be transplanted just as the buds are ready to burst;
they should be protected by frames as soon as set. Good cases may be
made at a trifling expense, by taking strips of inch and a half stuff,
three inches wide, and nine or ten feet long, sharpen the lower end,
and drive it into the ground four or five inches, and in a box formed
about the tree let crosspieces be nailed at the top. Be careful that
the tree does not _rub_ upon the case, although the wound will heal
over, yet in the first high wind, it will be apt to break off at that
point. This tree is rather peculiar in that respect.
The Locust was introduced to Europe by a Frenchman named Robin. From
him the genus (_Robinia_) took its name. There are but four species
belonging to it, and they are all indigenous to North America, viz.:
_Robinia pseudacacia_ (common Locust). _R. viscosa_, confined to the
southwestern parts of the Alleghany Mountains, bearing rose-colored
blossoms and being even more ornamental than the former; it is equally
hardy, and if it could be introduced among us would form a valuable
addition. Locusts nowhere appear to a better advantage than when
planted in clumps of six or eight on a lawn, and if the _R.
pseudacacia_ and _R. viscosa_ were contiguous, blending the pure white
and the rose-colored blossoms, the world might be challenged for a
finer effect.
The _R. hispida_ (_rose-acacia_ of our gardens) is a highly ornamental
shrub, its branches are, like the moss-rose, covered with minute
spines, which give it a fine appearance. A fourth species is said to
exist in the basin of Red River. The favorable opinion here expressed
of the Locust, will remove any impression of prejudice when we say,
that _they are altogether too much cultivated_. Our forests are full
of magnificent shade-trees whose claims can never, all things
considered, be equalled by the Locust.
ELM (_Ulmus Americana_), commonly called White Elm. Of the four
species of elms indigenous to the United States, but two are
particularly worth notice, the White Elm, and Slippery Elm (_U.
pulva_). But the former of these is so incomparably the superior, that
it should be selected wherever it can be had. It attains a height of
one hundred feet, is very long-lived, grows more and more beautiful
with age, its long branches droop over, forming graceful pendulous
extremities; and no one who has seen the Boston Mall, or the New Haven
elms, or those scattered along the villages of Connecticut, will think
that Michaux exaggerated in pronouncing this tree to be _the most
magnificent vegetable production of the Temperate Zone_. It is
unquestionably the monarch among shade-trees, as superior to the oak
for avenues and streets, as the oak is to it for parks and forests.
The great main-street of every village should be lined with White
Elms, set at distances of fifty feet, and Locusts between to supply an
immediate shade, and to be removed so soon as the slower-growing elm
has spread enough to dispense with them.
THE MAPLE.—The following varieties are in our forests, and are
beautiful shade-trees for the borders of farms, door-yards, public
squares, avenues, streets, etc. The Sugar Maple (_Acer saccharinum_),
White Maple (_A. eriocarpum_), Red Maple (_A. rubrum_). This last
variety shows beautiful red flowers before its leaves put out in
spring, and, like the sugar-maple, brilliant scarlet leaves in autumn.
The maple is a beautiful tree of fine form, the leaves of the
different varieties are variously shaped and all beautiful, it is free
from disease and noxious insects.
Besides these, the ash, oak, tulip, beech and walnut, are all worthy
of being transferred to our streets. Shade-trees for door-yards, and
public squares, and pleasure-grounds, require a separate notice, as in
some material respects they should be differently treated.
We warmly recommend in lining streets, that each alternate tree only
be locust.
It is better for _effect_ that each street, or at least continuous
portions of each, have _one kind_ of forest tree, so that an avenue of
similar trees be formed. In planting grounds, it is well to group
trees of different kinds, but in streets an avenue should be of elms,
or of oaks, or of sycamores, or of maples, and not all of them mingled
together.