393 



places nndonbtedly affects the growth, and especially of de- 

 tached trees or clump of trees ; but where large plantations 

 are made, if proper pains be taken, all reasonable success may 

 be expected. It may require in the outset much care and ex- 

 pense to get the trees under favorable way ; but there is 

 hardly a situation where they may not be successfully culti- 

 vated ; and success will abundantly compensate the expense.* 



XVI. Ornamental Trees. The cultivation of ornamental 

 trees ought to be strongly pressed upon the farmers. " Put a 

 tree down ; it will be growing while you are sleeping." 

 Many of them enrich the country ; all adorn it, and thus essen- 

 tially increase the value of an estate, and render the country 

 more healthful as well as beautiful. Every place on a farm, 

 where they can grow without injury to the crops, ought to be 

 planted with trees. Timothy Walker, of Charlestown, Mid- 

 dlesex county, lately deceased, left a legacy of some hundred 

 dollars to be expended in planting ornamental trees on some of 

 the great roads in that town. This was a noble bequest ; and 

 places him among the benefactors of the community. It is an 

 example worthy of imitation. A taste for the beauties of natu- 

 ral scenery cannot be too much cultivated among us. A taste 

 for natural beauty is closely allied to a taste for moral beauty. 

 The more attractive our homes are rendered, the more shall we 

 love our homes ; and the love of home is the parent of many 

 kind and noble affections. 



A taste for natural beauty is an original element of the mind. 

 It may be strengthened, elevated, and enlarged by education ; 

 but it appears even in the rudest minds, and thus speaks its di- 

 vine origin. I believe the perception of beauty exists in all 

 animals ; or why should they have been made so beautiful ? 



Natick in this county was the seat of the first christian mis- 

 sion to the Indians, where the benevolent Eliot, designated as 

 the Apostle, sought to pour into the minds of these children of 



* Appendix M. 



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