THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTUR18T. 



133 



in all the world another tree like this 

 American elm — the accepted ornament 

 of our ancient rural homes, the grand 

 and solitary sentinel, seen from afar, 

 and telling this story of American life 

 with which you are all so familiar, and 

 of which you are all so proud ? In this 

 centennial period of our history, too, 

 how this tree is woven into the heroic 

 events of our annals ! There are many 

 incidents of that great time when our 

 fathers rose up to assert their independ- 

 ence ; the amazing stand at Lexington 

 and Concord ; the calm and steady 

 courage at Bunker Hill ; the solemn 

 assembling of the Continental Congress; 

 the generous devotion of the colonies 

 to each other ; the impressive patience 

 of our own great revolutionary exist- 

 ence ; but not one stands out in grander 

 proportions than that scene at Cam- 

 bridge, when Washington, in the calm 

 majesty of his manly strength, assumed 

 the command of a disorganized body of 

 militia, named it the Continental army, 

 and waged war against the most power- 

 ful Empire fend the best disciplined 

 troops in the world, and founded an 

 independent nationality of freemen. 

 The canopy beneath which this sublime 

 event occurred has become immortal as 

 the Washington Elm. 



Who that is familiar with sacred his- 

 tory can fail to be reminded of the most 

 stirring scenes in the career of God's 

 chosen people, as he contemplates the 



CEDAR, 



the tree which crowned Lebanon, and 

 wiis associated with the highest and 

 most sacred art and architecture of 

 the Jews. Never was tree dedicated 

 to more illustrious architecture than 

 when Solomon sent his four score 

 thotisand hewers into Lebanon and 

 covered his Temi)le " with beams and 

 boards of cedar." And the great king 

 immortalized the tree when he se- 

 lected it as the type of one of his no- 



blest conceptions : " His countenance 

 is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." 

 The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, 

 which was 220 years in building, was 

 constructed in its frame and boarding 

 entirely of cedar. It is of this tree that 

 Madame de Genlis says : " The rose 

 will be in all countries the queen of 

 flowers ; but amongst trees the honor 

 of being king belongs only to the 

 ancient and majestic cedar." And so 

 high a place has this tree secured in 

 history, that " the few cedars still re- 

 maining on Mount Libanus are pre- 

 served with a religious strictness ; and 

 on the day of the transfiguration the 

 Patriarch repairs in procession to them, 

 and celebrates a festival called the feast 

 of cedai-s." 



TREES FOR INSPIRATION. 



The intimate i^elations which trees 

 bear to remarkable events and illus- 

 trious persons in history are almost 

 innumerable, as you may infer from 

 the few and striking illustrations to 

 which t have called your attention. 

 But these insensible though living com- 

 panions of man do not stop here. They 

 afford shelter and encouragement to his 

 loftiest aspirations, and offer him pro- 

 tection and sympathy in those hours 

 when his min<l is filled with fervor and 

 inspiration. Evelyn says : " Innumer- 

 able are the testimonies I might pro- 

 duce concerning the inspiring and 

 sacred influence of groves from the 

 ancient poets and historians. Here the 

 noblest rapturfcs have been conceivt^d ; 

 and in the walks and shades of trees 

 poets liavH com])Osed vei^ses whicli have 

 animated men to glorious and heroic 

 actions. Here oratoi-s have made their 

 panegyrics, historians their grave n^la- 

 tions, and here profound philosophers 

 have loved to pass their lives in repose 

 and contemplation." Would you find 

 instances of this in your own day 1 

 Attend Hawthorne, then, in his wooded 



