pressed it down with their little feet. With what interest they hastened to it on their way to and from school, to see if it were growing; and how they clapped their little hands for joy when they saw the buds start and the leaves begin to form! With what delight did they watch it grow through the sunny days of Summer! With what anxiety did they await its fate through the storms of Winter, and when at last the long-looked for Spring came, with what feelings of mingled hope and fear did they seek again their favorite tree!

But I must not pursue the subject further. It is enough to know that when these two sisters had grown to womanhood, and removed to New York City, they never returned to their old home without paying a visit to the tree that they had planted, and that was scarcely less dear to them than the friends of their childhood days. They planted and cared for it in youth; they loved it in age. That tree is the large and beautiful sycamore which one sees in passing along the Hamilton turnpike from College Hill to Mt. Pleasant, Hamilton County, Ohio.

66 OLD LIBERTY ELM."

J. B. P.

It was the custom of our New England ancestors to plant trees in the early settlement of our country, and dedicate them to liberty. Many of these "liberty trees," consecrated by our forefathers, are still standing. I remember, when a boy, the interest I felt in "Old Liberty Elm," that then stood in Boston. That old tree was planted by a schoolmaster long before the Revolutionary War, and dedicated by him to the independence of the Colonies. Around that tree, before the Revolution, the citizens of Boston used to gather to listen to the advocates of our country's freedom; around it, during the war, they met to offer up thanks and supplications to Almighty God for the success of the patriot armies; and, after the terrible struggle had ended, the people were wont to assemble from year to year in the shadow of that old tree to celebrate the liberty and independence of our country. It stood there till within a few years, a living monument of the patriotism of the citizens of Boston. The sight of that tree awakened patriotic emotions in every true American Heart. And when at last that old tree fell, the bells in all the churches of Boston were tolled, and a feeling of sadness spread over city and State. Even in Ohio, there were eyes that moistened with tears when the news came that "Old Liberty Elm" had fallen in a storm. Such was the veneration in which it was held.

"WASHINGTON ELM."

J. B. P.

Another of these "liberty elms" now stands in Cambridge, Mass. Under the shade of this venerable tree Washington first took command of the Continental army, July 3, 1775. How the affection of every lover of his country clings around that tree! What care has been taken of it, what marks of esteem have been shown it by the citizens of Cambridge, may be judged by those who have seen it standing, as it does, in the center of a great public thoroughfare, its trunk protected by an iron fence from injury by passing vehicles, which for more than a century have turned out in deference to this monarch of the Revolution.

3

J. B. P.

34

TREES AND TREE-PLANTING.

ARBOR DAY.

Teachers can easily interest their pupils in adorning the school grounds. With proper prearrangement as to the selection and procuring of trees, vines, or shrubs, Arbor Day may accomplish wonders. Many hands will make merry, as well as light, the work. Such a holiday will be an attractive occasion of social enjoyment and improvement. The parents should be persuaded to approve and patronize the plan. It tends to fraternize the people of a district, when they thus meet on common ground, and young and old work together for a common object, where all differences of rank, or sect, or party, are forgotten. The plantings and improvements thus made will be sure to be protected. They will remain as silent, but effective teachers of the beautiful to all the pupils, gradually improving their taste and character. Such work done around the school naturally extends to the homes. You improve the homes by improving the schools as truly as you improve the schools by improving the homes. "The hope of America is the homes of America." It has long been my ambition to improve the homes and home-life of our industrial classes and help them to realize that the highest privilege and central duty of life is the creation of happy homes, for the home is the chief school of virtue, the fountain-head of individual and national strength and prosperity. It is a worthy ambition to surround one's home and children with such scenes and influences as shall make the every-day life and labors brighter and happier, and help one to go sunny and singing to his work. Our youth should early share in such efforts for adorning the surroundings of their homes, and planting trees by the wayside. How attractive our roads may become by long avenues of trees. This is beautifully illustrated in many countries of Europe.

Arbor Day will become one of the institutions of the country, in which our boys and girls will take an eager share and genuine pleasure, and thus gain a liking for trees that will never be effaced. Nebraska has the honor of originating Arbor Day. Some ten years ago, at the request of its State Board of Agriculture, the governor appointed the second Wednesday in April as the day to be devoted to economic tree-planting, and it is claimed that twelve millions of trees were planted on that day. The successive governors have continued thus to recognize this day. The schools last Spring adopted the "Cincinnati plan" of planting "memorial trees."

The recent Spring floods and Summer droughts in Indiana, Ohio, and elsewhere, increasingly and now alarmingly destructive, are calling public attention to the cause and remedy as never before. The denudation of the hills and mountain sources of the springs is the leading cause of these freshets, and these can be remedied only by the extensive re-foresting of such lands. This great result, which must be the work of time, will be best accomplished by interesting the young, as well as the old, in tree-planting. The Arbor Day in schools will do immense good in this direction. We need to popularize and diffuse the sentiment of trees. This will best secure their propagation and protection. The frequency of forest fires is the common objection to economic tree-planting. But let the sentiment of trees be duly

cultivated, and they will be regarded as our friends, as is the case in Germany. The public need to understand that the interests of all classes are concerned in the conservation of forests, In Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and other European countries, this subject is so taught in their schools that the people generally appreciate the value of trees and the need of protecting them. Hence an enlightened public sentiment is a better guardian of their forests than the national police.

HON. B. G. NORTHROP.

Ir is vital to the future welfare of our people that the reproduction of the forests should at once begin, not on a small scale or in few localities, but in large measures and co-extensive with our settlements. A broad statesmanship, in our national and State Legislature, should at once take up the subject, and deal with it year by year until the great work shall be adquately begun.

There can be no doubt of the beneficial influence of the forest areas equal in aggregate to one-fourth or one-third of the entire area of any extensive region. But however important climate effects may be in this connection-however desirable it may be that the crops and animal life of the farm should enjoy the benefits of forest influences and shelter, the need of extensive forest planting is important enough without taking into consideration its effect on atmospheric movements, temperature, and rainfall. The store, the dwelling, the shop, the factory, the railroad, the wharf, the warehouse--all these demand action; demand it in the name of domestic life, of farm economy, of commerce, of all the arts of our civilization. What we shall save in climate by preserving forest areas, or gain by their extension, is just so much to be enjoyed in addition to other compensations.

DR. JOHN A. WARDER.

DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS IN OHIO.

Ohio was once supposed to possess an unfailing supply of black walnut, but it has been shipped into other States and to foreign countries in such vast quantities that there is now scarcely a first-class tree of this kind to be found in her bounds. Much of it has been shipped to Austria. Since 1850 Ohio has suffered the destruction of a vast proportion of her forest area. Between the years 1853 and 1870 there were cleared over four million two hundred thousand acres-equal to one-sixth of the entire area of the State, and equivalent to the removal of the timber from an entire county each year. In his last message to the Ohio Legislature, Governor Bishop stated that during the years between 1870 and 1878 over four million five hundred thousand acres of timbered land had been cleared, which was nearly one-half the entire acreage of 1870. To restore the forests of the state to the condition of fifty years ago would require not less than two hundred years. Consequent upon the destruction of the forests many rivers have become diminished, among which Bryant named the Cuyahoga; and from the same cause-the destruction of our forests-other streams are drying up in Summer.

DAVID D. THOMPSON.

36

TREES AND TREE-PLANTING.

HOW TO PLANT TREES.

The following articles are taken from the writings of experienced tree-planters:

SOME THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON TREE-PLANTING.

One of the first and most important considerations is the adaptation of the kind of tree to the soil which is to become its new home. It would be useless to plant a weeping willow or a swamp cypress on a high, dry, and stony hill. None of the genera which naturally select elevated and dry localities should be planted in low and swampy grounds. The constituents of the soil may vary greatly, but the constant supply of moisture in the new locality should vary but little from that in which the tree to be transplanted originally grew.

Any kind of tree whose stump sprouts freely after its trunk has been cut away will grow readily after transplanting, if the work has been properly done at the right time. The stump of the pine tree, and indeed of many of the coniferæ, rarely sprouts. Every one who has tried it, and has succeeded knows what a triumph it is to nurse into vigorous life and growth a pine tree or a hemlock tree after transplanting it.

The best time to plant trees is in the Spring before the buds have begun to swell. The top and branches should be well cut back. If this be done in the Fall, previous to transplanting, so much the better, as it saves the tree much vital force.

To insure the growth of a tree, it should be removed with the greatest of care, so as to keep intact as many of the rootlets and their terminal spongioles as possible. The sooner a tree be planted after its removal the better are its chances for growing. Within certain limits the smaller the tree and the larger the root the surer is it to grow.

The place a tree is to be set should be thoroughly prepared by spading up the soil to the depth of two feet or more; then filling up with loose, rich soil to the proper height. The tree may now be set into the place prepared for it. The surface of the fine soil upon which you set the tree should be adapted to the inequality of the roots, so that the tree will stand erect and alone. While the fine soil is being sifted upon the roots, the tree should be churned up and down with a gentle motion, so there be left no empty space under and around the roots. A pail of water should now be poured on the soil about the roots (this should be done with watering can or sprinkler), so as to insure their close embrace and to afford some food for the fasting tree.

The soil should not be heaped up around the tree, but pressed down, but not too firmly, to the level of the surrounding surface.

The ash, the oak, the chestnut, the hickory, the walnut (black and white), the maple, and the tulip all respond readily to the above

treatment.

A. D. BINKERD, M. D.

*NOTE.-In sandy soil or in drained ground this will do, but in clayey soil the hole must not be dug too deep, as it forms a reservoir of water which will often kill the tree.

Nearly every one who lives in the country at some time plants trees, but how few know just how to do it properly!

At the outset it is necessary to bear in mind that the tree is a living body, and that the process of removal interferes with its functions, and when it is displaced from the ground, causing an arrest of the circulation that is constantly going on between the tree and the soil, a severe shock is sustained. Every root-fiber destroyed lessens by so much the chances of success, and when a greater portion of these are gone, the tree is forced to depend on its own vitality to supply a new set of rootlets before growth can take place.

In the beginning bear in mind that it is important not to injure the roots and to preserve as many as possible, particularly the small ones, for these are what must be depended on to start the growth in the new life. Where trees are dug up to be removed a short distance, preserve all the roots if possible.

When the tree is out of the ground, exposure to the sun or drying winds will cause evaporation, which is very detrimental to the tree, and is a common cause of failure, and one which is often overlooked. If, however, the tree has become shriveled and dried, vitality may often be restored by burying the whole tree for a few days in moist soil; but it is far better not to have them get in condition to need any such remedy, which at best can not restore the tree to its original condition.

In excavating holes for planting, it is not necessary to dig very deep, unless for a tree with a tap-root; it may even be hurtful in a hard soil by affording a place to hold water under a tree to its injury. The roots of young trees grow near the surface, and the holes should be large enough to allow the roots to be extended their full length with out cramping or bending.

In case it is very dry at the time of planting, it is a good plan to puddle the soil around the roots, always covering with dry earth. In this way moisture will be retained for a long time. Avoid too deep planting. The roots must not be placed beyond the action of the air; about the depth they were in before removed, or a very little deeper. When filling, press the earth from the first firmly, so as to leave no spaces, and have it compact about the roots. This latter point can not be too thoroughly attended to, and, of course, to do this well, the soil must be finely pulverized and no lumps be allowed in the filling. It will be necessary to use the hand to place the soil in spaces where the spade can not go.

The time of setting is best when the soil has settled in the Spring and become warm, so that trees not being removed begin to start. Earlier than this is not so well, for the sooner the tree begins to grow after being set the more likely to do well. We believe the proper time is the Spring, the best time for planting all kinds of trees, althoug t early Fall planting is often recommended. Evergreens often succeed well planted in August; still we would rather risk them in the Spring, just as they are ready to grow. When you would plant early potatoes is a good time to plant trees. Evergreens are the most sensitive of any to drying while being removed, and if once allowed to become dry it is