THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



87 



ness and prosperitj. But again the 

 burden of general and extended tree 

 planting is work, at once so ponderous 

 and so exhaustive, that individual and 

 isolated effort is inefficient and pales 

 away into utter insignificance before it. 

 Also the tastes and personal opinions 

 of men with respect to any great public 

 matter are in themselves so varied and 

 in some cases opposite, that but little 

 real progress can be effected in any one 

 direction. This may be greatly modi- 

 fied and much better results become 

 apparent when the overruling wisdom 

 of the State presides. But further the 

 individual life of man is in itself found 

 to be too short and too uncertain for 

 any great public endowment requiring 

 length of time and great concentration 

 of active forces. All acknowledge that 

 tree planting for the good of themselves 

 and their posterity after them is their 

 duty, and that it should be done, but 

 individual effort, if it happens to be in 

 the minority, is singularly and pain- 

 fully unavailing. If men have the 

 assurance that their work in any one 

 direction is appreciated by those in 

 authority over them, and that it would 

 eventually overcome all hostilities and 

 be a great and pleasant success in the 

 future destinies of their country, there 

 is little possible doubt of the astonish- 

 ing results. Self-interest, too, being in 

 the general direction would render the 

 task less imposing and very greatly 

 assist in the matter. But we must very 

 briefly proceed to consider the nature 

 of the question, and the nature of the 

 obligation the State is laid under to 

 encourage it. By tree planting we 

 would of course be understood to mean 

 the planting of living trees for ultimate 

 results, as for timber, for finiit, or for 

 ornamentation. All tree planting may 

 be properly included as regards the 

 results under the head of one or other 

 of these three great classes or depart- 

 ments. The latter two classes of tree 



planting are easily got along with, and 

 require but little from the State in the 

 way of assistance and encouragement, 

 as the prevailing and powerful motor 

 and stimulus, self-interest, as we have 

 before said, is in the line of this direc- 

 tion. It can always be appealed to, 

 and is always capable of great results 

 if a moderate amount of encouragement 

 can be secured. By this means the 

 prosperous farms and beautiful and 

 happy homes all over this favored 

 country are secured. The most obvi- 

 ous encouragement here required from 

 the State will simply be good and 

 efficient measures for the best possible 

 protection of the products after they 

 are attained. These, I suppose, we 

 ought to consider, we assuredly have 

 at least in Canada, as the man who 

 dares to enter our orchards and tread 

 or cut down our fruit or ornamental 

 trees is most severely punished if we 

 can catch him. And so of the man 

 who carries off our fruit by the bagful. 

 We, however, sometimes think accord- 

 ing to our experience in this matter 

 that the moral sense of wrong that is 

 stamped upon the minds of our peram- 

 bulating youth is but very feebly made, 

 and that if we had them securely in our 

 hold we should much relish the duty of 

 impressing it more efficiently upon 

 their shouldere. The fact undoubtedly 

 remains that orchard protection in this 

 country, as at present understood, is 

 not considered satisfactory either for 

 purposes of encouragement or safety. 

 But though those classes of the subject 

 are so easily managed it is not by any 

 means just so with the first, for al- 

 though the principle of self-interest 

 may also, to some extent, exert an in- 

 fluence, here it is at a much further 

 distance away, and consequently is 

 neither so active or so potent in accom- 

 plishing good results. Other effectual 

 motors must be applied. "We realize as 

 a fundamental principle in the govern- 



