fi8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



a boou, whether it be from a scientific standpoint or from a practical, 

 whether it go no deeper than a desire to know the name of each 

 merely or to collect a leaf from each ; for it makes us look at them, 

 which cannot fail to* result in greatly increased enjoyment of them — 

 and enjoyment, it seems to me, is the highest end of all instruction 

 and all training. 



With all the trees in our public parks and private collections this 

 city furnishes an excellent arboretum for the student. Compaie our 

 opportunities in this respect with those in Salem. John Robinson, in 

 commenting upon the " Trees of Worcester " in a letter to the author, 

 says, " We have in Salem no public parks where trees may be seen 

 and studied." But with all our riches in this regard, one assistance 

 that might well be furnished the student is lacking, — our trees have no 

 labels. To anyone interested in learning them what a help it would 

 be if there were any place where named specimens could be seen ! 

 If, in Elm Park for instance, where may be found an example of nearly 

 every one of our trees, there were a generous supply of labels, such 

 as may be seen on the trees in the Boston Public Gardens, the collec- 

 tion would be not only much more interestiug, but much more valuable. 

 I wish " the divinity that shapes our ends " in this matter — the Parks- 

 Commission — might be brought to realize the importance of doing for 

 the public what one member of the Commission has done for his private 

 grounds, and devote some small part of the annual appropriation made 

 by the city to letting its citizens know what kind of trees they have. 



A somewhat careful enumeration of the trees growing here gives us 

 a total of one hundred and sixty-one distinct species, and it is quite 

 possible that some have been omitted from this list. Of these one 

 hundred and sixty-one species, fifty-six are strictly indigenous to our 

 soil, and consequently have the strongest claim on our attention and 

 regard. Of the remainder, thirty-five have been brought from other 

 parts of the United States, and we have seventy foreigners. With so 

 large a list as we have to choose from of trees that have proven their 

 adaptability to our soil and climate, it is a pity that the planters of 

 trees, here and elsewhere, during the last generation, have experi- 

 mented so largely with foreign species. Our own maples and spiuces, 

 our beech and our pine^have been passed by and the corresponding 

 European species planted ; in many cases an inferior tree to our own 

 and always at a disadvantage here because of new and trying condi- 

 tions. The very general planting of the Lombardy poplar during the 

 early part of the present century was the most colossal mistake of this 

 kind that we have made ; but those wisest in the matter consider our 



