606 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



valleys, the birds would be numerous enough to have pre- 

 vented the boll weevil and all other insect pests. 



It is likely that the electrical functions of trees con- 

 stitute their source of power to directly cause rainfall, 

 but whatever the explanation, there can be no doubt of 

 the potency of forests to attract precipitation. To name 

 one of many illustrations of this, the annual rainfall of 

 Egypt has been doubled by the Khedive's extensive plant- 

 ing of date palms, olive orchards and eucalyptus groves. 



Aside from the general benefits to be derived from tree 

 culture, there should be a special planting of willows, 

 osiers and other flexible woods of the water-loving varie- 

 ties, along the sides of the irrigating ditches. These will 

 make stronger the ditch embankments against breaks and 

 by their shade save water from evaporation. In addi- 

 tion to this consideration, it is worthy of mention that 

 such growths can be utilized in various industries. 

 Indeed, many manufacturing possibilities are denied tree- 

 less countries, to say nothing of the advantage forests 

 afiford for purposes of fuel. 



Skilled industry can find work and riches in utilizing 

 the materials afforded by varied wood crops — not merely 

 acquiring, but creating wealth, for he who adds to the 

 value of the products of the soil enlarges the wealth of 

 his country in the truest sense. 



The American mind is quick to receive and tenacious 

 to retain a suggestion so fraught with interest. In this 

 new land we do not fear innovation, but readily throw 

 oft' the handicap of inexperience and inadvertence. Action 

 should be taken to bring to public notice the truth about 

 the important part trees play in all their bearings upon 

 climate, floods, cyclones, droughts, blizzards, commerce, 

 manufactures, agriculture and health. Laws should be 

 passed in the various states giving at public expense 

 to each reputable person such young trees as he wall 

 obligate himself to plant and maintain, and lands so 

 planted in forestry fonn should be exempted from taxa- 

 tion for a liberal period of years. 



State boards of forestry should be created to study the 

 protection and encouragement of tree growth. All school 

 children of suitable age should be required to plant trees 

 on Arbor Day, and instruction as to the public school 

 curriculum. All country roads and highways should be 

 planted with rows of trees cared for by road overseers at 

 public expense. Congress should set apart as permanent 

 governmental reservations those large tracts of timbered 

 mountain lands which we so urgently need in the interest 

 of our streams and springs, and which otherwise will 

 sooner or later be despoiled by the ruthless axemen, or 

 by careless hunters or reckless stockmen. Every one 

 should encourage the planting and protection of trees 

 whenever and wherever possible. 



An old writer asserts " the skin of the animal is not 

 more necessary to its well-being than is the tree covering 

 of the earth essential to the proper condition of the soil." 

 In our own day Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes declares. 

 " When we plant a tree we are doing what we can to make 

 our planet a more wholesome and happier dwelling place 

 for those w-ho come after us as well as for ourselves." 



" Jock," said the dying Laird of Dumbeidykes to his 

 son, in one of Sir Walter Scott's charming novels, " Jock, 

 when ye hae naething else to do, ye maun e'en be sticking 

 in a tree ; it will be growing while ye are sleeping." 



CHICAGO'S MUNICIPAL FOREST 



The city of Chicago, or rather Cook County, which 

 is practically the same territory, has begun to look for- 

 ward to the day when it will have a municipal forest. 

 An appropriation of about $1,000,000 has been provided 

 for the gradual establishment of such a forest. There 

 has been a commission named to take up this problem, 

 after thorough investigation. The details are far from 

 w-orked out, but the theory of the municipal forest is 

 what is of greater importance to the future of the con- 

 servation movement than the mere local details. The fact 

 that Cook County is preparing to establish such a forest, 

 something on the lines of the German forests, is a hint 

 that the nation is coming to its senses on the problem 

 of the future of the trees. The Cook County forest is 

 probably to be called the county forest preserve. 



But it is not only the big cities that are considering this 

 problem. The city of Janesville. Wisconsin, a town of 

 under 30,000, has decided to plant beechnut trees in the 

 neighborhood of the city, and while at first the plan is only 

 to beautify the highways radiating from the city into a 

 thickly populate^, immensely rich farming country, the 

 plan has the future thought of solid forests of beech, 

 duplicating the Danish forests. The county highway 

 commission is back of the movement, Commissioner 

 George S. Parker having received a consignment of beech- 

 nuts at considerable expense, from the royal Danish 

 forest, and has opened a contest in tree growing for the 

 bovs of the countv. 



A SHAKESPEARE OAK 



On the grounds of the Panama-California International Exposition in 

 San Diego, California, on Shakespeare Day. the anniversary was cele- 

 brated by a pageant and by the planting of a live oak tree in memory 

 of the great literary light. Little Miss Mary Church, who was in 

 Stratford-on-Avon when the present European war commenced, had 

 the honor of turning the turf for the tree planting. 



