32 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



"Oh, not in vain there were left in trust 



To a later age the trees he set ; 

 When he who planted is turned to dust, 



The good that he wrought survives him yet." 



Then plant a tree. Let the children plant trees. Let a day be 

 designated when all Iowa shall plant trees on the public school 

 grounds. 



Thirty years ago the legislature enacted, "The board shall cause 

 to be set out and properly protected twelve or more shade trees on 

 each schoolhouse site where such trees are not growing." If this 

 statute has sometimes been forgotten, it is well to revive the memory 

 of it. How fine it would be if the public generally, especially in the 

 smaller towns and cities, under competent direction, would, with the 

 schools, devote a day to the question of beautifying public parks and 

 grounds. 



THE BEAUTY OF GREAT TREES 

 From a Proclamation by Gov. George W. Clarke. 



In an article in The Register and Leader of February 22, 1914, 

 entitled "The Forests of Iowa," Mr. H. C. Evans, of Des Moines, 

 said: 



"There is an old elm in the yard of the J. J. Selman home in 

 Bloomfield that is probably the largest tree in the state. The writer 

 has had intimate acquaintance for over fifty years with another old 

 elm a few miles northeast of Bloomfield. This tree was a monarch 

 of the forest ere the white man set foot on Iowa soil. It was known 

 to the Indian and the wild beast a hundred years before the inde- 

 pendence of our country. It is probably three hundred years old. 

 It reached its splendid proportions through great tribulations, in 

 spite of wind and weather. We have seen its splendid branches 

 whipped almost to the breaking point by terrific winds. It stands so 

 high above surrounding objects that twice it has attracted the light- 

 ning and it is scarred from tip to base. For more than seventy 

 years children have found a playground beneath its shade. It has 

 withstood drouths and storms, the rigors of many winters, the as- 

 saults of men and nature and has not its fellow in beauty and 

 grandeur for miles around. There is majesty and gripping pathos 

 about a great tree. There is mystery about its everlasting silence, 

 its tranquil patience." . 



