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Show uWtree planting asfutureinvestment The park committee of the city council in an effort to determine what trees would thrive to the best advantage in Dixie, enlisted the aid of Rafus D. Johnson, farmer far-mer resident of St. George, but now a member of the shade tree commission of Salt Lake City, and a recognized authority along this line. Mr. Johnson's reply is printed herewith as it is of interest to all contemplating planting shade trees: The subject of street tree planting plant-ing is a bread one, and it is rather difficult to do justice to it it one letter. However, I shall make a few observations and trust that you will find something among them that will be of value to you. To begin with, I would like to urge the good people of my old home town to consider street tree planting as an investment for the future. Every tree set out on a street should be considered as a present to posterity. It should stand for many years as a memorial me-morial to the planter who should be sure that his gift is worthy of his money. The planning of shortlived short-lived softwoods does not fulfill these conditions. Softwoods begin to be a liability' to the community after twenty or thirty years, whereas hardwoods at that age are just beginning in their prime. Adequate spacing is vastly important im-portant in street tree planting. IJose of our tree troubles arise-from arise-from the old practice of over planting. Each tree should have ample space into which, to grow into a rounded, symmetrical specimen speci-men ' rather than the narrow, squeezed-looking, heaven-reaching forms vhich are so familiar to us all. The planter should look into the future and view the size of the tree at maturity, remembering that it will remain at this stage for a long period, while it will be small but a relatively short time. Authorities agree that the minimum mini-mum planting distances should be 35 to 40 feet, although 40 to 45 feet Is still more satisfactory. As to species for St. George, I believe the following would be satisfactory, sat-isfactory, and are worth at least a liberal trial: Chinese elm, Arizona ash, Lon- don plane, melia, (Texas umbrella tree), thornless honey locust (probably (prob-ably already In use there). It is quite possible that maples, ma-ples, linden, and other trees that do well in the Salt Lake valley will also thrive in Dixie. Perhaps tests have been made of these species. If so the Norway maple is a fine street tree. All things considered I believe the first three of the above list will prove to be as satisfactory as any, and I think the melia would be an interesting in-teresting tree for some of the streets.- The Chinese elm is the newest tree, having been on the local market mar-ket only a few years. It comes from Mongolia, where it lives on dry plains. It is perhaps the fastest fast-est growing of all the better trees, yet it does not grow into the enormous enor-mous height of some of the poplars. pop-lars. It has long graceful branches, rather small leaves and is of the open type. I feel certain that this elm will be one of the most widely planted trees in the west within a few years. The Arizona ash is well adapted to hot places, where the soil is more or less tainted with alkali It is of graceful outline, and has pleasing foliage. The London plane, also known as sycamore, is a rather rapid growing tree of good type. It originated orig-inated in England, but it seems to thrive in lands that are much hotter and drier than Britain. It has broad leaves of a pleasing shade of green and would be very popular with citizens. If this is used, care should be taken to see that the European species, called Oriental plane by nurseries, is obtained, ob-tained, and not the American plane, which is very similar in appearance, ap-pearance, but much more unsatisfactory. unsatis-factory. All the above named species, except ex-cept melia, are obtainable in Salt Lake. Melia can be obtained in California. For a city park, a much wider range of trees may be used, including in-cluding many . for semi-tropical sections. I would lifrft to see St. George develop a native garden, paying particular attention to the flora of the surrounding country. Such a place would be far more interesting than a formal park, and would attract many people bo whom the standard park would be uninteresting. |