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So far, only that situation has been considered where a new home owner has control of his trees from the beginning. But the suggestions offered above apply with equal force when the new home you are buying or debating has already been started, or even completed, by a builder-developer. Knowing what to look for, you can tell whether he has conserved or laid waste the tree values in the property. If he has any tree sense, chances are that he has conserved values and will co-operate with you in improving them while there is yet time. If he has massacred the trees, sheer off and buy elsewhere. A sure key to a developer's tree sense, apart from his placement of the house and the care shown in grading, is his treatment of the driveway. Pennies pinched by slamming a driveway in on the shortest course, without regard for good trees, are dollars thrown away. Roots ripped or hacked off to let in concrete or blacktop could just as well have been pruned carefully and the trees' necessity for food and top-pruning recognized. The writer has vivid memory of four fine oaks in front of a $55,000 "development" home near Princeton, N.J., which were plainly slaughtered by such thoughtlessness. Not far from that house is another new one where a dozen tall hardwoods in the front grounds are now grisly skeletons just because |
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