EMBELLISHMENT WITH TREES AND SHRUBS. 221 



Joseph H. Woodford said that the subject before the meeting 

 was a most important one, and could not be emphasized too much. 

 He had noticed the pleasing effect of tree planting, both in this 

 country and in Europe. When, in riding over the country, we come 

 to a place devoid of trees we think it must be a cheerless place 

 to live in, but when we come to another where trees have been 

 skilfully and tastefully planted we say to ourselves that this is the 

 place we should like to live in. .It is now in our power more than 

 ever before, since a day has been set apart for the purpose, to en- 

 courage tree planting. He hoped that the approaching Arbor 

 Day would be observed far and wide ; and that town and city au- 

 thorities would spend a good deal of monej^ to give a stimulus to 

 the observance of the day, interesting the children in the work of 

 planting, and making a national holida}' of it. It would be the 

 best thing they could do for our country. There should be a 

 village improvement society in every village. Every child who 

 plants a tree in infancy will look back on it as his offspring. 

 When a boy he brought home a load of trees from the forest and 

 planted them by the roadside, and some of them are now two feet 

 in diameter. He thought the Virgilia the most beautiful of all 

 trees ; there are three on Mr. John C. Chaffin's lawn in Newton, 

 fifty feet high, which in their season are literally loaded with 

 flowers, and with these and the ten thousand roses in bloom on 

 the same grounds the air is filled with fragrance. 



Mr. Strong said that there is no better tree than the Virgilia ; 

 the wood is very brittle but it does not sufl'er so much from break- 

 ing as other trees. In his observation the oak has suffered most. 

 The Virgilia is more upright and does not hold ice so much ; the 

 inflorescence is exceedingly beautiful. He wished to give a 

 caution in regard to the hemlock ; in the wind it is one of the 

 most tender trees we have. It is not a tree for an exposed place, 

 suffering from the wind far more than the Norway Spruce. The 

 Blue Spruce is more hardy than the Norway and more beautiful 

 when young, but it is still a question whether it will be more 

 beautiful in age. 



Henry Ross confirmed the caution given by Mr. Strong in re- 

 gard to the liability of the hemlock to break in the wind. He 

 was surprised and greatly disappointed when he found it so tender, 

 and he had also found it difficult to transplant. He would not recom- 

 mend the American Chestnut ; it is the dirtiest of all trees, drop- 



