CHAPTER  XXII
 

                        Street  Planting.



Whilst the cultivation of trees in the streets  of large towns and  cities

undoubtedly presents many difficulties not encountered under the ordinary

conditions  of parks and gardens,  it  cannot  be said generally  that the

authorities who have control over these matters have risen to the level  of

their opportunities.  An enormous number of new varieties and species  of

hardy trees have been added to our collections  during the last fifty years,

yet it is very rarely indeed that one sees any attempt made to go outside

a certain restricted group of common  trees for  the adornment of streets.

The only consideration  appears to be  "Will it  grow?"  That, of course,

must always remain the most important consideration,  but it need not be

the only one.

   The three  commonest trees planted  in towns in the  S. of  England

are plane,  horse-chestnut,  and common lime, not  one of which can be

regarded as a perfect tree for ordinary streets.

   For many parts of London the plane has  proved  to  be  the greatest

boon  to the street  planter.   It  thrives in Central London  and in city

yards  as no other tree has yet been  found to do, and  for such  places  it

would be absurd to decry  its use.   But in  the  outer suburbs, where the

atmosphere  is better,  and the  streets often  narrow, the plane  is  not a

suitable tree.   Naturally one  of the  noblest  in its proportions  of all

deciduous trees, and  one of  the largest, it is  very  much out  of  place

occupying two sides of a street, the whole width of which would not half

accommodate  a fully grown  tree.  Yet  even  in the  outer suburbs  of

London, in districts as  yet only half  built over, and where many streets

still have  orchards and gardens at their sides, the imagination of local

authorities  often fails to rise beyond the plane.

   With respect to the horse-chestnut the same  objections  as to size

obtain.  The  tree does not bear pruning so well  as the plane,  owing  to

the soft nature of  its  wood, which enables  fungoid  parasites to find  an

easy  entry at the wounds,  unless great care  is taken.  On the  other

hand, the foliage is perhaps  the handsomest of all trees commonly grown