Whether from an ornamental or sanitary point of view, the advantages of judiciously planted trees and shrubs in our larger centres of industry can hardly be over-estimated. That a quantity of healthy growing foliage has a wonderful effect in purifying the atmosphere is a recognised fact, and certainly far more than compensates for any damage to health that might be occasioned by its decay in autumn; while the cheerful aspect produced by trees and shrubs when planted in our streets and squares renders them of special value and the greatest importance. In connection with architecture, too, the beautifying and softening effect of trees is gradually being admitted, though for long the aversion to change, which so unfortunately characterises the average British mind, kept street planting greatly in the background in our towns and cities. For years the necessity for judicious tree planting along the Thames Embankment was addressed to official ears in vain; indeed, it was only when the call became too loud to be disregarded that practical steps for carrying out this most important of London's tree planting schemes were set on foot. When Loudon built his house in Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, he planted a Sumach by the path side opposite to his residence - an action which was met by prompt and triumphant opposition on the part of the district surveyor, whose complaint was that it was likely to shade the pathway and keep it damp. But even his neighbours declared that it would be unpleasant to pass under its drip, in showery weather, and so poor Loudon, who had done so much to further our knowledge of trees and planting, was forced to grub out his Sumach. But even at a later date the opposition to street planting was considerable, and it was only after attention had been called to the beauty of Continental towns, where trees were largely used in the squares and streets, that the adornment of London in a similar way was countenanced. Now, however, with a rage for tree planting, it is to be hoped that our larger towns and cities will come in for a share of attention.

Bearing on the question of trees in towns, Dr. Phene, at the Social Science Congress at Edinburgh, remarked as follows: - "To the occupants of houses in streets having a northern aspect, the glare of reflected light is injurious; but the effect would be much modified by the coolness to the eye produced by the green of trees. In ancient surgery persons having weak or declining sight were advised to look at the emerald. In the old style of building the streets, being narrow, were cooler, both from the sun not being able to penetrate them with direct rays, and less subject to noxious exhalations, from the scouring and purifying effects of the searching air to which narrow streets were subject, so that, while there was no space for trees, there was also less necessity. Wide streets, on the contrary, are hotter, and require the shade of trees to cool them, and, as in the case of London, which has so far done to a great extent without trees in its streets, not only are modern streets compulsorily wide, but the enormous increase in metropolitan buildings renders every sanitary question one of importance; and the chemical properties of trees, as shown by experiment, give them an important standing on that ground, irrespective of ornament or the pleasure they produce."