54 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETT. 



in some form into our schools ; anil I will venture to assert that no 

 more interesting material for sucli lessons can he found than may he 

 drawn from our native trees — their shape, their ramification, the 

 appearance of the bark, the limbs, the buds, the leaves, the blos- 

 soms, the fruit, and other things which relate to their usefulness 

 and fitness for adornment. It is profitable, doubtless, for a skilful 

 teacher to give object lessons upon crumbs of bread, bits of glass, 

 scraps of leather, fragments of ore, and the like. But a lesson 

 upon some common forest tree might, if properly managed, give 

 the pupil an interest in that tree which would last for a lifetime. 



There is a strange and almost unaccountable ignorance about 

 trees. Question even adult people upon the subject : What kinds of 

 trees grow about us? What shapes do they assume? What soils 

 and localities are they adapted to? When do they blossom? What 

 shapes do their leaves take? How can different species be distin- 

 guished from each other? What trees should or should not be 

 planted upon the streets, and why? Where should a rock maple 

 be set? a red maple? a white maple? Why do hundreds of trees 

 set in public parks die at once or live a lingering death? How 

 many kinds of oaks have you in your State — hickories, birches, 

 etc.? Of these commonest of natural objects, that furnish you 

 timber, fuel, shade, fruit — that shelter you from the blasts, that 

 give that incomparable beaut}' to our New P^ngland landscapes — 

 that are your constant friends and companions from the cradle to 

 the grave — what can 3'ou tell about them? Try a few of these 

 questions and see what answers you get ! 



I grant that we should not attempt much in the way of forestry 

 study in our schools ; little or nothing which would add to the task 

 work of the pupils. But I will indicate a few things which I think 

 may and should receive attention, in this ' object lesson ' work, and 

 in preparation for an intelligent and effective use of Arbor Day : 



First. Call attention to line trees, easily observed in the vicin- 

 ity of the school-room, or in the village, or upon the streets near 

 by. Ask the pupils to name and tell about others. Bring out the 

 facts about their forms, size, beauty, landscape effects, etc. Keep 

 these general facts before them in all their subsequent observations. 



Second. Call attention to easily recognized differences among 

 some of the more prominent shade and ornamental trees, carrying 

 this to the point of identifying diffcieut species of the same genus. 



Third. Direct observation, at the proper season, to the various 



