40 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a fforded me. It will soon be seen that I do this not as a special- 

 ist in any department of arboreal study. Neither can I speak 

 from an extensive practice as a tree grower, for 1 have been little 

 more than a looker-on in that work. But it will be ray purpose to 

 emphasize, and to stir into activity, some of the better thoughts 

 and intentions which must have occurred to you, concerning our 

 notably rich and beautiful sylvan growth. And could I succeed 

 in making more practical the desire which the members of this 

 So ciety undoubtedly feel to preserve and propagate our friendly 

 trees, with a view to the protection of our lands, and the adorn- 

 ment of our homes and highways, the main object of this hour 

 would be accomplished. 



Incidental remarks, onl}-, will be made about trees in forest 

 masses ; for notwithstanding the vast importance of this subject, 

 involving as it does the welfare — the very existence indeed — of our 

 country as a habitable region of the globe, its present considera- 

 tion would encroach too much upon the main purpose of this occa- 

 sion. But leaving this phase of arboreal study, we would like to 

 inquire about tiees as they relate to our homes ; as they shield us 

 from the storms, and from the desiccating glare of our summer's 

 sun ; as they lend their grateful shade to suburban and country 

 highways ; or as they lure us to the leafy by-paths of the woods, 

 and as they give their delightful charm to our landscapes wher- 

 ever we walk or ride among the picturesque hills of New England. 

 We would like to know how to make more and better use of this 

 goodly- source of beauty, of comfort, and emphatically of health, 

 so lavishly provided for us in the native tree growth. Speaking 

 generally, we have hardl}* begun to appreciate the value to us of 

 the arboreal growth of our land. Said an educated and observant 

 Scotchman to me (he was a successful horticulturist also) — " I 

 am amazed at the indifference of j'our people to the variet}' and 

 wonderful beauty of your native trees and shrubs. Your nursery- 

 men and landscape gardeners are trying to grow those of foreign 

 nativity, at a cost of many failures and disappointments, when 

 there are better kinds all about them at home." 



That, and more, is true. We have many of the finest repre- 

 sentatives of most, if not all, of the different genera of trees and 

 shrubs indigenous to climates like our own that can be found any- 

 where in the world. There are in the little State of Massachusetts 

 about as many native species of trees fit for timber, shade, 



