44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



trees are for the healing of the nations. I have seen in a very old Saxon poem a 

 description of Paradise thus translated : " Serene is the glorious plain ; the sun- 

 ny bower glitters ; the woody grove joyously ; the fruit fall not ; hut tlie bright 

 trees ever stand green as tlieni God hath commanded. In Avinter as in sum- 

 mer, the forest is alike hung with fruits ; never fade the leaves in air, nor will 

 flame them injure, even throughout ages, ere that an end of the world shall be. 

 Not broken is the wood in aspect; there a holy fragrance rests o'er the pleas- 

 ant land, that s^hall not be changed forever, until shall end His wise work of 

 yore, lie who at first created it." 



In these preliminary pages I hare sought by several pictures and contrasts to 

 suggest, rather than point out particularly, the interest we should take in the 

 woods, and the care with which we should cherish and adorn our homes with 

 God's good gift of green trees. 



Here, in this middle clime, between torrid and frozen zones, we have for a 

 large part of the year the earth under our feet carpeted with fresh and ever 

 changing patterns of green, studded here and there with flowers of all sweet- 

 ness of fragrance and variety of hues ; while over us the a))ple orcliards bloom 

 with prismatic and rainbow tints. The sweet maple proclaims the spring, 

 waving in advance its crimson and scarlet boughs, so that the great forest may 

 appear in line like an army with banners. The giant oaks, each a wood in 

 itself, spread far-reaching arms across the highway, where the considerate 

 woodman has been good enough to spare the tree, while in the deeper forests in 

 summer days, over bridle-paths and lovers' lanes where young mated pairs so 

 love to linger hand in hand, 



"The woods droop darkly, as inclined to rest, 

 And the blue sky spreads round them like a lake 

 "Where Piety heV thirst for peace iui<?ht slake." 



In the villages and cities of Michigan, and indeed pretty generally through- 

 out those of most of our States, there seen)S to be a love of trees for shade and 

 ornamental purposes. Many of our beautiful towns appear almost embowered 

 in them, so that, in some of the oldest, the streets for long distances are quite 

 canopied over, presenting pictures of enchantment, — especially wiien the 

 autumnal tints wreath them in all gorgeous coloring at tlie fruitful culmination 

 of the vear. 



Soon these bright vestures are laid aside, and the brown winter takes sombre 

 and sudden possession of the earth. Then the evergreens that have so modestly 

 appeared as but cool shadows during tlie summer, se;'^m to spring up from the 

 cold ground like pyramids of light, — graceful in outline, with trailing skirts 

 like women's robes, with aromatic breath and "a voice ever soft, gentle and 

 low," wliieh also, says Shakespeare, is ''an excellent thing in womnn." 



Within tlie last twenty-five years evergreens iiave greatly multiplied, during 

 which time many new varieties have been introduced ; nurserymen have learned 

 to propagate them cheaply, and in such a manner that they may be trans- 

 planted with certainty; so that they are within the reach of all who have 

 grounds on which to plant them, and with taste and judgment to ajiijreciate 

 their beauty and usefulness. Now we cannot travel far through the country 

 without finding here and tiiere fine displays of them adorning and sheltering 

 the homesteads of the farm, as well as the urban and suburban dwellings of 

 other citizens. Joys forever, as things of beauty, they challenge and deserve 

 admiration. The useful offices that they have the qualifications for, and stand 



