Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The following hints for planting and removing trees may be useful to
those persons who have given little attention to the subject. A tree
should not stand so near a house that, if it were to fall, it would
fall on the house; or, in other words, the root should be as far from
the house as the height of the tree. Belts of trees may be planted on
the north and east aspects of houses, but on the east side the trees
should not be so near, nor so high, as to keep the morning sun from
the bedroom windows in the shorter days of the year. On the south and
west aspects of houses isolated trees only should be permitted, so
that there may be free access of the sunshine and the west winds to
the house and grounds.
High walls and palings on these aspects are also objectionable, and
should be replaced by fences, or better still open palings, especially
about houses which are occupied during the fall of the leaf, and in
the winter. Trees for planting near houses should be chosen in the
following order: Conifers, birch, acacia, beech, oak, elm, lime, and
poplar. Pine trees are the best of all trees for this purpose, as they
collect the greatest amount of rainfall and permit the freest
evaporation from the ground, while their branchless stems offer the
least resistance to the lateral circulation of the air.
Acacias, oaks, and birches are late to burst into leaf, and therefore
allow the ground to be warmed by the sun's rays in the early spring.
The elm, lime, and chestnut are the least desirable kinds of trees to
plant near houses, although they are the most common. They come into
leaf early and cast their leaves early, so that they exclude the
spring sun and do not afford much shade in the hot autumn months,
when it is most required. The lime and the elm are, however, beautiful
trees, and will doubtless on this account often be tolerated nearer
houses than is desirable from a purely sanitary point of view.
Trees are often useful guides to the selection of residences. Numerous
trees with rich foliage and a rank undergrowth of ferns or moss
indicate a damp, stagnant atmosphere; while abundance of flowers and
fruit imply a dry, sunny climate. Children will be healthiest where
most flowers grow, and old people will live longest where our common
fruits ripen best, as these conditions of vegetation indicate a
climate which is least favorable to bronchitis and rheumatism. Pines
and their companions, the birches, indicate a dry, rocky, sandy, or
gravel soil; beeches, a dryish, chalky, or gravel soil; elms and
limes, a rich and somewhat damp soil; oaks and ashes, a heavy clay
soil; and poplars and willows, a low, damp, or marshy soil. Many of
these are found growing together, and it is only when one species
predominates in number and vigor that it is truly characteristic of
the soil and that portion of the atmosphere in connection with it.
Curzon Street, Mayfair, W.--_Lancet._
* * * * *
SOLIDIFICATION BY PRESSURE.
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