INTELLIGIONCIC IxX 'I'KKKS. I'l-o 



sheds, lumber for your buildings and fuel for your stoves. Plant trees 

 in the waste places and they will dig gold out of the earth for you, 

 and gladly they will toil night and day for your comfort. What faith- 

 ful friends stand guard around us! 



The trees, the blessed trees, not only check the burning blasts of 

 summer, but they defend you against the cold north winds of winter. 

 And is it not wonderful that you can take a bare, brown piece of earth, 

 and on your own volition fill it full of faithful friends, who will stand 

 by you in summer's heat and winter's cold, and work for you as you 

 can hire no man to work both day and night? 



Surely we live in wonderland if we could but open our eyes to the 

 miracles which are going on all around us. 



GRASPING, GItABBING AND KII.LTXG. 



Sometimes it seems as though a tree had some conscience, espe- 

 cially our fruit ti'ees. What could be more fruitful than the Wealthy 

 apple or Patten's Greening? In their eagerness to please and their 

 desire to make returns for our care, they are ready to bear themselves 

 to death. You find no greater fidelity anywhere. I have known cherry 

 trees to kill themselves by overbearing. They seemed so intent on 

 making returns to the owner they never spared themselves. Some 

 trees of the ornamental kind seem to wish to show off as much as a 

 horse does with a stylish harness and a tine buggy. They let them- 

 selves out for display. Look at that great red-leafed maple, projected 

 like a great peony bloom against the sky. See that tree lilac with that 

 shapely head — all on^ mass of bloom. Often the wild cherry, hard 

 maple and ash will seem to glisten with the joy of pleasing and grow 

 into beautiful and shapely forms. The Concolor and Picea Pungens 

 seem to know they are raised for their beauty end so they don robes 

 fit for Iving's courts, and are gay with ermine and emerald, silver and 

 sapphire. They virtually say: "You will get your money's worth and 

 more." What can surpass a beautiful type of the Scopulorum or Silver 

 cedar of the mountains? You plant it in your yard and it grows in coni- 

 cal form as snug as if trimmed with shears. In its robes are mingled 

 the sparklings and flashings of silver in the sunlight. In form it is 

 a model of grace and beauty. In color it has the richest blend of which 

 you can have no conception. Yes, it pays you a hundred times over. 



Then there are other trees which imitate men of the "get rich 

 quick order." They absolutely have no conscience or mercy. They 

 are as selfish as Standard Oil or Amalgamated Copper. They care for 

 nobody but themselves. Their roots are like the tentacles of the 

 octopus. They reach out and grab all they can get. See that great 

 Cottonwood. He has got a start. There are fruit and ornamental trees 

 all around him, but he robs them all. In vain they may plead or wither 

 and die in his sight. What does he care? His creed is "might is right," 

 and so he goes on and little by little trees die under his shadow. He 



