0f <Itr (Sngkntr, 



TREES constitute an order of nobility ; for nature 

 has its aristocracy as well as mankind. If there be 

 " ancient and noble " families in a nation or a com- 

 munity, still older, and inheriting yet more dignity, 

 are the families of living things by which man is 

 encircled. He can claim no honour on the score of 

 descent or genealogy that is not already merited by 

 some patrician of the world of plants ; and this not 

 so much because trees are the same to-day that 

 they were in the beginning, as by reason of their 

 absolute excellence, their serene and invulnerable 

 perfection. 



Trees are sanitary agents in the economy of the 

 world we live in. By the process of " assimilation," 

 which means the abstraction of carbon from the 

 atmosphere, in order that, in due time, and through 

 certain vital processes, it may be converted into wood 

 and other vegetable substances, by the process of 

 " assimilation," we say, trees, through the medium 

 of their leaves, preserve the air in a condition fit 

 for breathing. Herbaceous vegetation contributes 

 to this great end ; but the result is mainly referable 



