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THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHWAU. 



Nov. 26, 1903. 



( 



Contributed Articles 



) 



Roadside Tree-Planting and Reforesting. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



MUCH has been said in the past in the " Old Reliable " 

 on this important subject. However, too much cannot 

 be said, for there are very few topics discussed in our 

 journals that are more important, or that more deeply con- 

 cern our entire people than this. 



It is a well-known fact that our climate, both as to tem- 

 perature and rainfall, has greatly changed since our country 

 was first settled. The extremes of climate are much more 

 marked, and we all know that with extremes, either of heat 

 or cold, often comes disaster. Extremes of rainfall are also 

 of startling frequency during late years. The drouth dries 

 up the crops, and brings distress often to a wide range of 

 our farming population. The terrible floods that come with 

 the frequent downpours are even more distressing. Millions 

 of dollars worth of property are swept away, and human 

 sacrifice often brings wide-spead sorrow. There must be 

 some common cause for these unwelcome changes. What- 

 ever cause it is, it must be something that is very profound 

 and far-reaching. We can hardly conceive that the cultiva- 

 tion in the soil is enough in itself to have effected this 

 change. 



The only other thing that we can suggest is the wide- 

 spread and unfortunate depletion of our forests. If this can 

 effect or bring about this change, then, surely, we have an 

 easy explanation, for the denudation of our forest areas is 

 something tremendous. The destruction of our forests dur- 

 ing the last generation has been great, beyond compare. It 

 is easy to believe that the presence of great forests in hold- 

 ing the rainfall, in moderating wind, in staying heat radia- 

 tion from the earth, may have just the effect to moderate 

 temperature and equalize moisture. I believe it is the con- 

 sensus of the best educated men along the lines of meteorol- 

 ogy, that the cutting away of our forests has brought 

 these disturbances, and brought upon us these terrible ex- 

 tremes. 



If the suggestion made above is correct, then certainly 

 it is none too soon to begin the work of restitution, by com- 

 mencing the wide-spread and wholesale tree-planting. I 

 believe it is safe to assert that nothing that we can do will 

 give so much hope in way of climatic improvement as gen- 

 eral reforesting of much of our land area. Surely, it is 

 none too soon for every one who owns any land, whether it be 

 farm, or city lot, to begin the work of setting out trees. 

 If we could all become sufficiently impressed with the im- 

 portance of such action, we would all become at once tree- 

 planters, and I believe we would perform a patriotic work, 

 for which we would rightly receive the blessing of all the 

 coming generations. 



There is another argument, hardly less persuasive, 

 which favors immediate action in this direction. How 

 beautiful is a country or city where trees are much in evi- 

 dence along street or roadside. Cambridge, in Massachu- 

 setts, New Haven, in Connecticut, and Riverside, in Califor- 

 nia, are illustrations of the value of tree-planting as a mat- 

 ter of cesthetics. The country, too, where all roadsides are 

 adorned with trees is always sought by the would-be farmer. 

 The advanced value which city or village lot or country 

 farm attains upon the presence of trees, is sure evidence that 

 beauty has a hold upon our people. It should be so. Any- 

 thing that develops taste or love of the beautiful advances 

 civilization and fosters good fellowship. Here again, then, 

 we should all take a lesson and become enthusiastic sup- 

 porters of any action which tends to increase the trees along 

 our streets and roadsides. 



The bee-keeper is also very greatly interested in the 

 planting of trees. We all remember the great reputation 

 which the famous Mohawk Valley of New York, and the 

 great linden regions of Wisconsin, secured in bygone years 

 because of the immense honey crop. This great yield of 

 honey came almost as surely as the season, and a maximum 

 crop was usually expected. With the change of climate, and 

 the disappearance of the trees, the honey product is not only 

 greatly diminished, but is far more precarious. It is hardly 

 to be hoped that we can ever bring back anything like the 

 old-time basswood forest, but if every one would inform 



himself as to the necessity of reforesting our country as far 

 as possible, and urge action to secure it, in season and out 

 of season, we certainly should do very much, not only to im- 

 prove the climate of our country, the beauty of our land- 

 scape, but also to effect a great increase in the honey-pro- 

 duct of the land. 



Without doubt there is going to be a great impetus in 

 this direction of more extensive setting of trees. It be- 

 hooves the bee-keeper to have his ear to the ground, and 

 use every influence in his power to direct this work, so that 

 he may gain to the utmost by this increase of roadside 



BLUE-GUM (EUCALYPTUS) FLOWERS. 



trees. There is no more beautiful trees for roadside plant- 

 ing than the American linden. There are no trees more 

 valuable for other purpose than beauty. There is certainly 

 no trees, or even plant, that secretes more or better nectar. 

 Every bee-keeper should see to it that in the great work of 

 tree-planting the grand old basswood is not neglected. 



Hardly second to the linden in beauty or value, as af- 

 fording economic products, or as a honey-producer, is the 

 tulip, often called whitewood, and in the South incorrectly 

 called the poplar. The bee-keeper will certainly use his in- 

 fluence that the tulip may have a fair consideration, as our 

 country is being beautified by these gems of the landscape. 

 The maples — both the sugar maple and the soft maple — 

 take rank among the very first of our trees for beauty. The 

 wood of these trees is also of great value in the market. 

 While the maple blossoms a little too early to give it chief 

 value as a honey-producer, yet it does furnish no little honey, 

 and is no small importance in stimulating the bees to 

 greater industry in the early spring months. For variety's 

 sake, the bee-keeper may well urge that the maples share with 

 the incomparable linden, the magnificent tulip, a place in 

 city street and along country roadside. 



California is as much interested in this matter of tree- 

 planting as is any State in the Union. Indeed, I think it is 

 more so. Water is the great desideratum in California. Too 

 scant and too infrequent rains are a chief source of anxiety 

 among the residents of this delightful region. Here, trees 

 should not only be planted along the roadside and city 

 streets, but if our people are wise, great blocks of trees will 

 be set out on areas not otherwise occupied ; and certainly 

 more and more attention will be given to the reforesting, of 

 our mountains, where, through inexcusable carelessness. 



