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THE CANADIA.N HORTlOtTLTUEIST. 



dozen years, an object of delight to all 

 who were allowed to enter its sacred 

 inclosure and perambulate its well- 

 visited walks. Such a scene as this 

 was rare. Public-spirited citizens plant 

 ed avenues of trees in highways, and 

 were considered benefactors. Here and 

 there a " door-yard " was ornamented 

 with clumps of lilacs and syringas, but 

 nowhere, that I am aware of, were 

 there associations of enterprising and 

 tasteful citizens organized for the pur- 

 pose of adorning their towns and of 

 providing for the health and comfort of 

 themselves and of the community of 

 which they formed a part. It remained 

 for our own generation to unite for so 

 important and laudable a purpose ; and 

 I congratulate this beautiful city that 

 its natural comeliness has been en- 

 hanced and its suburbs made delightful 

 by the combined efforts of those who 

 believe that a love of beauty is a hu- 

 man attribute, and that we are under 

 a sacred obligation to preserve that 

 health which is given us for a high and 

 useful purpose. The practical service 

 of an association like this, as I have 

 said, it is not necessary for me to dis- 

 cuss here, in the presence of those who 

 know by experience how trees and 

 shrubs should be grouped ; who have 

 learned that an evergreen should be 

 transplanted in August, and that a lit- 

 tle lime and muck applied to the roots 

 when it is planted will give it a won- 

 derful stimulus j who understand that 

 a plantation of trees should be made to 

 suit the building it is to surround and 

 the landscape it is to occupy; that 

 trees should not be planted too near a 

 building, or too near each other ; that 

 the plants nearest the house should be 

 low in stature and of a beautiful sort ; 

 that the shades of green should be pro- 

 perly blended, and the foliage selected 

 accordingly ; that trees should be pro- 

 tected by each other against those 

 winds which are obnoxious to them; 



that the Norway will not bear the 

 rough gales from the sea, and that the 

 Scotch pine rejoices in them; that 

 trees and plants should not be " mar- 

 shalled in regular order and at equal 

 distances," like beaux and belles stand- 

 ing up for a quadrille or country dance; 

 " that it is easier," as Downing says, 

 " to make a tasteful park by planting 

 new trees than by thinning out an old 

 forest, and that nature herself is full 

 of hints and suggestions," an observ- 

 ance of which constitutes the highest 

 art of which man is capable in all that 

 work of which earth, sea and sky form 

 a part. With all this you have long 

 been familiar, as the practicable part 

 of a most agreeable labor ; but for the 

 trees themselves, these living monu- 

 ments of nature's bounty, or of man's 

 skill ; those landmarks which we love 

 to contemplate ; those sentinels and 

 armies along the landscape ; those silent 

 friends who somehow connect them- 

 selves with so many of the dearest 

 scenes and events of our lives, and 

 watch over the graves of the departed 

 day and night, and through all the 

 changing seasons — for the trees them- 

 selves let us say a word. 



BEAUTIFUL TREES. 



Now I know not how it is, but next 

 to the face of an old friend returned 

 from a long absence, the sight of a 

 landscape or a tree, once familiar and 

 connected with the early event of our 

 lives, long lost and now bursting upon 

 our vision, fills us with the tenderesb 

 emotion. Who that has suddenly come 

 upon a flower by the wayside in a 

 foreign land, which grew beside some 

 well known path in the country of his 

 home, has not been filled with sweet 

 recollections and transported to that 

 spot which will forever outshine the 

 glory of all others 1 



How often have we turned our eyes 

 unexpectedly upon a solitary tree keep- 



