WINTER MEETINa. 317 



the oak, hard maple, chestnut, birch, etc., they should have quite an 

 abundance of the last year's growth, so that the buds will start easily 

 in the spring. The leaves being the lungs and the pumping machines 

 of the tree, they are as necessary to the good growth of the tree as 

 the root ; in fact, the roots cannot grow long unless the leaves respond 

 to the call of the roots for air, and food from the air. Hence you 

 readily see the necessity of having good strong buds and young twigs 

 on the trees to assist the tree in its real work. Other trees, like the 

 apple, the elm, the maple and the box-elder, and even the poplars, need 

 this care exercised in the pruning of the tops of the trees just as well. 

 While they will recover more quickly and easily, yet it is a great mis- 

 take to cut off every young twig on our trees so that all new growth 

 may start. 



How many of us have seen street trees standing like hoop-poles, 

 without a twig or small branch even upon them, and standing thus for 

 perhaps two or maybe three years before any headway is made in real 

 tree growth, often never making a particle of growth until the second 

 year, and then the body sun-scalded and the flat-head borer taking 

 possession. Better by far plant a small tree that will always look well» 

 and one that will please you to see grow, than such trees as we often 

 see planted along our streets. 



Another great, very great, mistake is in thinking that trees are 

 not beautiful until they become large. No greater mistake can be 

 made. There is just as much beauty, and sometimes I think more too, 

 in the small, shapely, thrifty, vigorous-growing tree, be it apple, pear, 

 peach, maple, elm, evergreen or shrub, than there is in the full-grown 

 specimens. To a lover of trees, their beauty and the pleasure they 

 give is a continual one ; from the first of spring, the middle of summer, 

 the autumn or the winter, all have their attractions. 



But, taking Arbor day, what can we best do to make it a valuable 

 one ! I think perhaps more good can be accomplished in our school- 

 houses than in any other way. But in this I believe that we should 

 teach something of the life and growth of a tree and plant, and how 

 properly to plant, as well as of planting. 



It is comical to note the supreme ignorance of so many of our 

 people, of the first principles of tree-planting. Some will plant a foot 

 deep ; some, though few, too shallow ; some will not dig the hole large 

 enough ; some will cover roots with hard clods of clay, never thinking 

 of nice, loose soil to cover the tender roots ; some will take the tree 

 and lay it down in the sun and wind while they are digging the hole ; 

 some will never cut a twig off the top ; some will cut off all the top ; 

 some will never tramp the soil about the roots ; some will never think 



