:238 ANNUAL REPORT. 



Speak of the training of young trees ? Has not that very ex- 

 ample of the careful training of a young and tender tree, been 

 taken, in all ages, in all countries, as the best example for the edu- 

 cation of childhood ? 



There are not many schools, even in the cities, where children 

 -could not be taught to plant, every year, and attend to at least one 

 tree, each. If there is no room on the school grounds, there is 

 room along the streets, the roads, the squares, the uncultivated 

 hills, stony patches, waste grounds in the neighborhood of cities, 

 where trees would always be welcomed. The fact is, that in sev- 

 eral schools the practice has been already introduced, in observation 

 of Arbor Day. 



It is good wofk for the body and the mind, and I do not fear to 

 say for the heart too. 



What a lesson you could teach a child, when he asks: "How 

 "long will it take before that tree I am now planting is big enough 

 "to cut down?" If you answer, "It may take twenty, thirty, 

 " forty years, or more; that is a terrible long time to wait is it not? 

 " You may die before your tree is big, or go so far away that you 

 "will never see it again; but your work will not be lost, my child; 

 *' if you do not profit by it others will, and you will have done more 

 *' than many a grown up man has done — you will have left some- 

 "" thing useful behind you." 



ADAPTATIONS AND METHODS OF CULTURE 

 IN FORESTRY. 



By Hon. Geo. H. Wright, of Sioux City. Iowa. 



When we attempt to discuss the question of forest tree planting, 

 whether it be on our prairies for shelter belts, for groves to shelter 

 our homes and stock from winter storms or summer heat, or 

 whether it be as a financial investment or to fulfill the Govern- 

 ment timber culture law, the main question that presents itself to 

 our mind is adaptability. 



We should consider the locality where the trees are to be grown 

 latitude and longitude, altitude and rainfall ; the particular time 

 of year when we get the greatest amount of rain, is it distributed 



