ORNAMENTAL TREES. 23 



to be read, and interesting discussions to follow, and you 

 have your usual business to transact. 



You cannot know all the good results which will come 

 from your work here. It is like planting seed in a good soil, 

 which grows and ripens and bears fruit long after the seed is 

 planted. You will, I know, perform your duty as best you 

 can ; and so you will confer lasting benefits on the com- 

 munity, and gain renewed credit for your honorable Board. 



The Chaieman. I will not undertake to thank the presi- 

 dent of the Farmers' Club for his address. That more prop- 

 erly belongs to the Board, who will see to that. We will 

 now proceed to the regular business of the meeting. The 

 first paper to be read is a paper upon " Ornamental Trees," 

 by Mr. John Robinson of Salem. 



ORNAMENTAL TREES. 



BY MR. JOHN EOBINSON". 



In preparing this paper upon ornamental trees for Massa- 

 chusetts plantations, it has been the endeavor of the writer 

 to call attention to the physical conditions under which the 

 trees best adapted to our wants are found, — a side of the 

 question too often neglected both by the planter and the es- 

 sayist. Very little need be said regarding the trees individ- 

 ually, excepting those which may illustrate forcibly such 

 points as seem to require it. In order to make a proper 

 selection of trees for ornamental or economic planting, some- 

 thing more is necessary than a mere fancy for the trees se- 

 lected. A knowledge is required of the species which will, 

 under peculiar conditions, endure the longest, and prove, at 

 the end of a generation or two, that the choice was wisely 

 made. Failing in this, disappointment must result, and 

 others will be called upon to do again the work which a 

 proper knowledge of the subject might have permanently 

 accomplished at first, with no greater outlay. 



The distribution of trees over the earth's surface is wholly 

 depending upon the distribution of rainfall, and the tem- 

 perature, locally varied by the condition and composition of 

 the soil. Where there is a generous rainfall, and moderate, 

 equable temperature, a luxuriant forest will thrive, varying, 



