268 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vo.. VIII. 
subject to follow, but just say we hardly appreciate them enough for the 
pleasure and comfort they afford us in the building of our homes with 
their timber, in the heat we derive from fuel in winter or cooking our 
meals, in the fruits they afford us for sustenance and refreshment, for 
the sheltering shade from the heats of summer, and the modifying of the 
winter winds by shelter belts of evergreens. 
How barren would be our fields and streets without trees, in fact we 
could not exist and life would be simply intolerable. The individuality of a 
tree commences with the seed and the character of its growth is determined 
by the buds on its branches and the direction the growth of the branches 
excepting such accidents as may be affected by winds or pruning or its 
peculiar situation in growing. In some cases from the position of the 
buds on the stem, the growth is upright and in others the growth is almost 
at right angles. 
These differences or traits determine the after-head of the tree whether 
it will be pyramidal—tapering inwards at the extremities as the Lombardy 
poplars or diverging outwards as the fan-shaped American elm or spread- 
ing or curving downwards as the Norway spruce. Orchardists must 
study carefully these habits in their fruit trees so that when pruning they 
will direct the growth in such a manner as will make them shapely and 
allow proper spaces to admit air and sunlight to ripen and colour the fruit. 
For instance the pruning required for a Northern spy apple would be 
different to that required for a Rhode Island greening and so on all through 
the whole catalogue of fruits. 
We stated that the position of the buds on the branch is responsible 
for the after form of the tree. Thus the horse chestnut has its buds op- 
posite to each other while on the elm the buds are alternate. To the 
lover of trees all are interesting and have their appointed place, but what 
affects us most as citizens are the trees most suitable for street planting. 
The horse chestnut, though common on our streets, is far too dense in its 
habits for streets—it obscures the view in day time and obstructs the 
electric light at night time. Its place is in the parks, where given suitable 
space it makes in time a beautiful tree. The American elm, our native 
tree, is the best for that purpose, growing up loftily with a straight trunk 
it permits vistas underneath of houses and street and the overhead foliage 
not being too dense permits sunlight to filter through its leaves and allows 
grass to grow underneath. Its appearance in our farm fields is always 
graceful and lends a charm wherever it occurs to pastoral scenes. The 
individuality of the maple tree is too well known to need any particular 
description, but suffice to say that it is always beautiful in every season, 
in bud, in leaf, in spring, in fall tis a thing of beauty and a joy forever. 
The numerous varieties of this lovely tree though different from each other 
—-_ 
