Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1902 — Asphalt and Trees. [ARTICLE]

Asphalt and Trees.

Experience in the East In regard to the effect of asphalt pavement upon trees by the roadside has taught observers that the influence of the Impervious pavement depends upon the character of the soil. Where there is a substratum of rock the trees will suffer,

because the pavement will prevent moisture from reaching the roots from above, from which direction all nourishment for the trees must come. On the other hand, where there is deep soil the roots will find plenty of nourishment under the pavement, which serves to keep the moisture from evaporating and holds it in supply for the trees. It will probably be found that where trees have died as a result of asphalting the roots were cut by the excavators for the concrete foundation. Trees which are thus robbed of roots must be deprived of branches sufficient to offset the loss of nourishment The builders pf cement footpaths are also responsible for the injury of a good many trees.' They chop out all the roots that interfere with the laying of a cinder foundation, and some trees have their main roots very close to the surface of the soil.—American Asphalt Journal. A Mayor Who la Weighed. . The quaint old-time ceremony of weighing the mayor, which is observed nowhere else in the .country but at High Wycombe, took place in that borough on Saturday, when Walter Birch was for the second time in succession elected chief magistrate. Shortly before noon the corporation met his worship at his residence on the outskirts of the town, and thence proceeded in solemn state to the Guildball, being glorified by the borough beadle and the maceoearer m costumes of the seventeenth century. Arrived at the Guildhall the re-election took place before as many burgesses as the building would hold and afterward another procession was formed to an ante-room, where the head constable was in attendance with a huge set of scales. Beginning with the mayor, the head constable, who, appropriately enough, is the borough’s inspector of weights and measures, ascertained the correct

weight of every member of the civic body, and solemnly recorded it In a big book kept for the purpose. The mayor was congratulated on having put on three pounds during a year of much activity, and the town clerk, who has always been the “light weight” of the civic body, had this year to yield place to one of the junior councilors, he having gained several pounds' weight since the last weighing. The portly police sergeant, who generally turns the scale at ID stone, was absent on this occasion, he .happening to be on night duty. The quaint ceremony, which is traced back to the thirteenth century, caused not a little merriment. —London Express.