“Duty Towards Street Trees”
I hope these excerpts from an article in a book published back in 1912 would be of interest to people drawn to this website. Although much of what is mentioned in this article is still relevant today, we have made progress here in Aiken on the treatment of our trees thanks to concerned citizens, historical and conservation organizations and our Aiken City Council. There is still however much work to be done to preserve and protect Aiken’s most valuable asset, our grand trees!
Source: The Pruning-book: A Monograph of the Pruning and Training of Plants as Applied to American Conditions, Author: Liberty Hyde Bailey, Macmillan, 1912
“I must not, however, close my remarks on this subject without uttering an emphatic protest against the way in which the shade trees of our cities and towns are treated. The responsibility rests not only with those who, perhaps unintentionally and ignorantly, are directly guilty of what an enlightened public opinion should regard as vandalism; but it rests in part on ourselves, if we do not in all possible ways seek to give information to the public, and attempt by all legal means to secure the enforcement of such regulations as shall assure proper protection for our trees. As it is, the care of the trees in our public grounds, parks, and streets is too often placed in the hands of those who are ignorant of the principles of vegetable physiology, and their efforts to prune and cut down trees , are guided only by what seems to them temporary convenience, or by what commends itself to their not infrequently perverted sense of the beautiful. When the whim seizes them and they wish to get rid of a stately tree, it is only necessary for them to say that it is rotten, and dangerous because likely to fall. Many times I have seen trees whose shade could ill be spared, cut down because their trunks were rotten, when examination after they were felled showed that they were sound and would have lasted many years. It ought to be considered a crime to cut down a handsome tree—certainly in public grounds—unless compelled by absolute, necessity. When it is thought necessary for the public safety to destroy animals supposed to be suffering from contagious diseases, there is, at least, a consultation, and the opinion of experts is asked. I hope that the time will come when it will not be allowed to cut down trees which are public property, except on the advice of those whose training entitles them to be called experts.”
“If one is amazed sometimes at the abuses of trees on the part of those who are their authorized guardians, it must be admitted that the poor condition of our trees is principally due to the recklessness of the public. In most of our streets the trees are very near the edge of the sidewalk, if they do not project into the street itself. Those on the corners of the streets are almost sure to be grazed by passing vehicles, and as wagon after wagon passes along, the grinding process is kept up until the wood is exposed. It is perhaps fortunate that such trees are short-lived, for they become very unsightly, and when they die, the curbstone can be replaced as often as is necessary.”
“Walk along any of our streets where the trees are placed on the edge of the sidewalk, and notice the effects due to our general negligence. In some instances you will find that the house-owners have placed guards around the trunks, and the trees are symmetrical and have attained a good size. But in most cases, they have been left to take care of themselves: Bright and early the milkman comes along and jumps off with his can, leaving his horse to make a scanty breakfast by gnawing the bark of the nearest tree. Later on come the butcher and the grocer, whose horses lunch upon what was left by their predecessor, inflicting an amount of damage to the tree limited only by the length of time which their owners are pleased to spend in conversation with the girls in the kitchen. Last of all comes, perhaps, the doctor, whose visits, if they are not frequent, are proportionally long. He, at least, ought to know that trees cannot be wounded with impunity. No wonder that the bark is not only soon removed and the wood exposed, but since the horse is an animal which prefers the softer bark to the harder wood, the fresh borders of the wound are repeatedly attacked, until deformities of enormous size are produced, and, apart from the danger of fungous growths, the nutrition of the tree is seriously deranged.”
“In closing this sketch of tree surgery, I must enter my protest against reckless treatment of street trees. The most wanton and inconsiderate despoiler of shade trees at present is the lineman who runs telephone and telegraph wires. He generally has no appreciation of the value of a tree, and still less of any need of giving thought to the proper cutting off the limbs. Everything is secondary and subsidiary to the lining of the wires, and the result is that many fine trees are wickedly sacrificed.”