The Canadian Horticulturist. 



47 





Tree and Man. 



^HJI^HIC tree, like the human 

 t)eing, belongs to some 

 especial race and 

 family ; it has skins 

 andveinsand blood ; 

 it has its antipathies 

 and loves; its flowers 

 ^"' and fruit correspond 

 to his words and ac- 

 tions ; it fills its ap- 

 pointed place and does 

 its work among its fellows. Some trees, 

 like some men, diffuseaboutthem beauty 

 and gracious influences, while others ful- 

 fil hard and severe uses. They live, like 

 men, in company or in gloomy solitude. 

 Moreover, to every tree as to every man, 

 comes at last the hour when it must 

 disappear and give place to the vigor- 

 ous young sapling which springs from 

 its roots. A tree, to be healthy, requires 

 both food and fresh air at the roots. 

 When the ground is barren of nourish- 

 ing juices, or is packed and clammy, the 

 tree shrinks and grows poor and meagre. 

 The thoughts of a man are the roots 

 of his life. If he does not draw strength 

 and knowledge up with them, his life 

 will grow lean and poor. Or, if his 

 thoughts are confined to a too narrow 

 circle, if they are not aired by reading, 

 or travel, or contact with other minds, 

 the same effect will be produced. The 

 whole man will shrivel, and his fruit of 

 good deeds will be scanty. 



A tree, too, needs to be washed and 

 kept clean by the rain from Heaven, in 

 trunk and leaves, or it will not grow. 

 The boy whose heart and mind are 

 covered with the dust of the world — 

 the puerile, worthless cares and gossips 

 of every day — and never are washed 



clean by contact with great thoughts of 

 God's goodness and power, will dwindle 

 into a petty, insignificant man. The 

 leaves, too, need sunshine, just as the 

 man needs cheerfulness and joy in his 

 life. Neither tree nor boy will be 

 healthy or sound at the root if the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere is always dark 

 and murky. No tree can have its 

 place taken by another while it still 

 lives. Neither can any man do another 

 man's work or fill his place, 'i'om may 

 be a giant in body and intellect, and 

 Joe a dwarf, but Joe has his little word 

 to speak and fruit to ripen, and no man 

 can do it for him. But when the work 

 is done by tree and man, and death 

 comes to them, God certainly and 

 quickly fills the place of both. A great 

 oak sometimes falls in the forest, and 

 we are amazed to see how shallow and 

 smallwastheholdof itsrootsin the earth. 

 It is taken away and the grass and young 

 saplings in a few days hide the scar. 



A great man falls and the nation is 

 shaken to its centre. But other men 

 take up his work and fill his place. The 

 hardest lesson for a man to learn is 

 that while no man can do his work for 

 God while he is here, it will go on 

 without him when he is gone. Hu- 

 mility, says St. Basil, is chief of all 

 virtues, for it is the one which only 

 death teaches us. — Youth's Companion 



Thk women of California are finding 

 profitable and steady employment in 

 fruit culture. Picking, packing, making 

 raisins and canning fruit as well as 

 crystallizing figs and apricots are largely 

 done by women. Not a few of them 

 are owners of fruit farms, which they 

 carry on. 



