MEN OF THE TREES 



pear. Myriads of wild flowers bedeck the hillsides and 

 the country clothes itself in holiday garb. 



During the long years of the Dispersion, this Feast 

 has been kept up by eating the fruit of the trees that 

 grow in Palestine, but now that the Jews are returning 

 to the land, this Feast has been revived with all its 

 national feeling. During a recent visit to that land of 

 historical interest and future prospect, where I was 

 privileged to set on foot a tree planting movement and 

 inaugurate the Society of The Men of the Trees, I was 

 greatly impressed with what I saw. At Biyet Vegan the 

 House and Garden suburb of Jerusalem, I took part in 

 a tree planting ceremony on the day of the Feast of the 

 Trees in which four thousand school children came out 

 from the City to plant avenues along the new roads 

 of this residential quarter. Such was the interest that 

 sixteen thousand grown-up persons attended the cere- 

 mony. Tlie young planters were welcomed by the Rabbi 

 of that quarter, and speeches were made emphasizing the 

 importance of trees to the country. 



In Palestine, tree planting is closely associated with 

 possession of the land. There is a saying amongst Jews 

 and Arabs that *'Fie who plants in the land shall possess 

 the land." There is no wonder, then, that on the Feast 

 of the Trees school children throughout the country 

 should be taught to plant for posterity. In the same way 

 that Arbor Day has now become associated all over the 

 United States with patriotic and aescetic, as well as 

 economic, ideas. 



194 



