The Uses of Wood 



ones are chosen. This is the lesson Kansas and Nebraska are 

 learning after long experiment and repeated failure. 



The meaning of trees in a landscape the beauty value of 

 them is oftenest overlooked by those who have always seen 

 them. When crossing such a monotonous stretch of treeless 

 country as the plains of Arizona that wait for irrigation, the 

 Easterner for the first time has a full appreciation of the beauty 

 of his familiar wooded hillsides, and tree-lined streets. Out of 

 homesickness for forest scenery, as well as the necessity for pro- 

 tection and wood supply, came the great tree-planting crusade 

 that swept over the Middle West and will yet dot every state 

 with homes surrounded by groves. 



It is proper to recognise here the influence that men have 

 unconsciously drunk in from trees. Myth and song have remem- 

 bered and repeated the feelings of primitive races to whom trees 

 gave shelter and raiment and food. The old Druids worshipping 

 the oak expressed a veneration which we all inherit, whatever 

 our race and line. Contact with trees is a purifying, uplifting 

 experience. Work in the woods develops a hardy, clean and 

 intelligent race. When we lose our wonted strength of mind and 

 body go to to the woods to find it. 



535 



