CHAPTER III. 

 TREES. 



The study of trees important. Planting groves. Trees afford 

 beauty, timber, and protection. Individual trees: the elm, the 

 sugar maple, the oak, the cottonwood, the hickory. 



At first thought it seems unnecessary to take up 

 time under the subject of agriculture for the study 

 of trees, but when viewed in its true and broadest 

 sense, the study of trees commands a place of no 

 small importance. It is a part of farm life that 

 has generally been too much neglected, but which 

 soon must become a serious study. 



When this country was first settled, it had the 

 most magnificent forest areas of any part of the 

 world. It was a matter of necessity, of course, to 

 clear away a great part of these forests for timber 

 and agricultural purposes. The latter half of the 

 past century has witnessed not only a wholesale 

 destruction of vast areas of forests, but also a 

 waste of the timber. This has continued at such a 

 rate that good timber is fast becoming very scarce. 

 The loss of timber is not all the damage. It is a 

 well know fact that forests, with the deeply pene- 

 trating roots, and gigantic leaf surface for the 

 evaporation of water, are great regulators of rain- 



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