Winter Meeting. 241 



If I only could write the color 



Of the lilac's tossing plumes, 



•And make you feel, in a sentence, 



The spell of its sweet perfumes; 



If my pen could paint the glory 



Of the blue and tender sky, 



And the peace that crowns the mountains, 



;My poem would never die! 



A society for the preservation and improvement of our natural 

 beauty spots and waste places is something to be desired right here in 

 this city. But the probability that this will hardly be accomplished 

 soon shows the greater necessity of something being done now, ere 

 we lose more of our natural beauty, and so I appeal to this large and 

 iufluencial club to help create a sentiment in this matter. There is 

 nothing more delightful than this study of tree growth and natures 

 beauty and nothing so productive of good for the future. I plead 

 with you therefore, for your assistance, for your influence, for your 

 authority, to help create a love for trees and awaken such an enthusiasm 

 for the preservation of what we have and the planting of more; 

 that no one will dare to deface, injure or destroy any of them in the 



future. 



Forestry in its true sense rrieans to get the most trees in num- 

 ber per acre that the land can grow, with the idea of getting body 

 growth and as few branches as possible. But City Forestry means to 

 get all the leaf growth, all the shade, all the broad branches all the 

 spreading top that we can secure on the ground with the least number 

 of trees. Twenty-five years ago the greatest landscape gardener of the 

 West, M. G. Kern, who laid out Lafayette Park and Forest Park in 

 St. Louis, went with me over these hills in and about Kansas City, and 

 then outlined a most beautiful landscape and park effect. Such a 

 plan might then be put in working order and the preservation of these 

 grand monarchs of the forest be accomplished. 



Let us then at this late day begin to protect every tree we can 

 and plant every tree we can, with this idea in view, the covering of our 

 city with a leafy growth of trees. 



What do we plant when we plant the trees? 



We plant the houses for you and me. 



We plant the rafters, the floors. 



We plant the studding, the laths, the doors. 



The beams, the siding, all parts that be. 



We plant the house when we plant the tree. 



City forestry, meaning therefore, the beautifying of our streets 

 and lawns, and waste places with a leafy covering, you see will give 

 too much for this one paper, and I will only discuss ornamental and 

 forest tree growth. What then can we make our city by planting? 



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