FORESTRY AND ARBORICULTURE. 71 



promises much good to the cause of forestry," it is an inven- 

 tion not without some vakie. 



It may possibly be necessary, in order to call the atten- 

 tion of busy people to this subject, to set apart a special day 

 for tree planting and to make it a pul)lic holiday ; but it 

 would be much better if these matters could be kept in mind 

 every day, and the children in our schools, and the older 

 people as well, could become more generally informed as to 

 the necessity for forests and their importance in political and 

 domestic economy, and more familiar with the trees met 

 with in every day life, rather than by condensing all their 

 efforts into one day of poetical effusion and song. 



That such knowledge is sadly needed is evidenced by 

 daily illustrations. To give one example: — A class in an 

 advanced school desiring to celebrate the centennial anniver- 

 sary of our independence of British authority, planted a tree 

 on the school grounds ; but, not being familiar with these 

 matters, they took without question what a dealer sent 

 them, and celebrated the event by planting an English oak, 

 an emblem of royalty, and naturally a poor tree in this 

 climate, which may now l)e seen starved and puny, and 

 looking as if it fully appreciated the inappropriateness of its 

 selection. 



Although there seems to be a very general interest shown 

 in the forests and in the cultivation of ornamental trees, 

 there are, however, but few persons who are sufficiently 

 familiar with our native trees to call them by name. There 

 are of course many wdio can tell an elm from an oak, or a 

 willow from a pine, but there are not many who can name 

 the different species of oak or pine, or even distinguish the 

 pines from the spruces, — who can see the difference between 

 birches and hornbeams, or separate the many foreign trees 

 in cultivation from the native species. In fact, the native 

 trees and the grasses and sedges, l)y far the most conspicu- 

 ous plants in our flora and forming its greater bulk, are the 

 ones least known and the least studied by the people. 



The trees are neither numerous in species, nor is there any 

 difficultv whatever in distinijuishinsi; one from another among 

 those of native growth, and it certainly seems that the 

 jDleasure and satisfaction of their intimate acquaintance 



