28 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



been badly mutilated in this manner. These facts, which have 

 come under my immediate observation, with the additional one 

 that so many houses are built which are left entirely destitute of 

 trees of any kind, have led me to offer a few remarks on this sub- 

 ject. 



It is a fact admitted by all persons of taste that trees add to 

 the charms of any location. In summer time they protect it from 

 the scorching rays of the sun, and provide pleasant and cool 

 retreats from the heat, and in winter are of no small value in pro- 

 tecting our homes from the cold and piercing blasts which then 

 prevail. Trees around a house impart a home-like and attractive ap- 

 pearance ; houses enough are built, yet how few are the homes 

 adorned by trees. A few maples, elms, lindens, or mountain ashes, 

 with the larch and Norway spruce, and some of our fine shrubs, 

 will render the humblest home an attractive spot. A house with 

 the roses climbing up the piazza in a mass of bloom, some 

 handsome trees around it, its paths clean and neat, the flower beds 

 tastefully arranged, though plainly built and humble, and the 

 whole expense but trifling, speaks volumes to us. It tells us at a 

 glance tliat home afiections dwell there, and think you that the 

 Influence of such a home will not be felt, and that at the close of 

 the day when work is over, and those who dwell there sit down to 

 enjoy themselves before the darkness of the night, these pleasant 

 surroundings have no influence over the mind ? Yes, the}^ are a 

 constant reminder to us that the Giver of all good has bestowed 

 upon us these beautiful trees to adorn and make our homes happy, 

 and from such a home go forth, as can from no other, those happy 

 influences of mercy and goodness which bring joy to the house- 

 hold and pleasure to all around us. 



Perhaps I can do no better than to call your attention very 

 briefly to a few extracts from different journals on this subject. 

 In an article on " Shade Trees by our Roads," in the " Homestead," 

 the writer says, " We could Avish that our own people had a little 

 more enthusiasm, especially that the dwellers in our rural districts 

 could drink in enough of the spirit of tree worship, to erect shrines 

 along the highway, where every traveller could offer his devotions. 

 We should like to see these wooden shrines with canopies of living 

 green, sixty feet apart on both sides of every public and private 

 road in the commonwealth." Again the same journal says that 

 " we have already made a good beginning in tree planting, and 



