170 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of the Association. With the tree voting was incorpo- 

 rated bird house building, and for the best bird houses 

 the American Forestry Association awarded blue ribbons. 

 The voting, which was canvassed by the teachers of 



National Photo. 



TWO BLUE RIBBON BIRD HOUSES 



Jack and Peggy Baker, who with Mrs. Newton D. Baker, attended the 

 tree work exhibition at Wilson Normal School in Washington, pick 

 out the bird houses that suit their fancy. Jack entered a feeding 

 station in the competition, which was awarded a blue ribbon. 



the Nature Study Department before being turned over 

 to the Association follows: 



Hickory 1099 



Dogwood 676 



Tulip 332 



Walnut 273 



Sycamore 108 



36 



Oak 7075 



Elm 3892 



Pine 1935 



Maple 1411 



Apple 1176 



Scattering .... 



In this campaign, which is being used as a model in 

 many parts of the country, the pupils studied the values 

 of the trees and "four-minute" speakers were assigned 

 by each class to speak for their favorite trees in the 

 different schools. Tree characteristics, uses, diseases and 

 habits were taken up in detail and discussed and argued 

 by the various classes before the vote was taken. 



At the exhibition could be found in miniature samples 

 of hundreds of things made of wood. An oak shelf of 

 books with six "volumes" and each "volume" containing 

 something from history or literature in regard to the 

 oak had been made by a class of girls. Each volume was 

 handwritten and the shelf brought much favorable com- 

 ment. Telegraph poles, an electric lighting system and 

 wooden fences along a road was the exhibit of two boys 

 while another had made a model to scale of an ocean 

 buoy. Farm tools in miniature, made from hickory, 

 completed another exhibit and there were dining room 



sets, bedroom furniture and models for boats made from 

 various kinds of wood. 



The campaign in the Washington schools resulted in 

 the newspapers publishing many articles about it and 

 this in turn resulted in many editorials. The Portland 

 Oregonian, in a column, argues on behalf of the Douglas 

 fir for a national tree, while the Cleveland Plain Dealer 

 nominates the hickory. The Baltimore American pleads 

 for the oak. The Indianapolis Star says, "If the choice 

 of a national tree should result in a new and more gen- 

 eral interest in our forest growths, then it should be 



National Photo. 



PLACING A WINNER 



One of the first bird houses awarded ^he blue ribbon by the American 

 Forestry Association was presented to the Association and placed in a 

 tree in front of its new headquarters, 1214 Sixteenth Street, Northwest, 

 in Washington. 



worth while," which, of course, is exactly what the Asso- 

 ciation is aiming at with the coming generations. 



One of the interesting developments of the campaign 

 was a letter from President Woodrow Wilson saying 

 that because of the "richness and infinite variety of 

 America's forests" he was unable to make a choice of a 

 national tree, and this resulted in editorials from such 



