HOW SCHOOL CHILDREN STUDY TREES 



297 



corps calculated the full returns. Eighteen thousand and 

 seven votes were cast, but no figures can measure the 

 interest in trees and their conservation that has spread 

 through the homes of the city, as a result of the study 

 and the vote. 



One speaker for the dogwood said there is no other 

 tree in the United States with such beauty as the dog- 

 wood. Do the sycamores, elms, tulip trees or sugar 

 maples have beautiful flowers on them in the spring and 

 red berries and dark red leaves in the fall? The dog- 

 wood berries furnish food for forty-seven different birds. 

 If this is not a good argument for the dogwood will 



national tree. People would soon learn what a terrible 

 thing it would be to injure it. We people living around 

 Baltimore and Washington should be particularly partial 

 to the dogwood. Because, literally speaking, it grows 

 under our very noses. What good would it do us to 

 have the redwood of California for our national tree. 

 More than one-half of us will never even have a chance 

 to see one of these giants. 



A speaker for the hickory laid great emphasis on the 

 fact that his tree grew only in America,, that the hickory 

 was an all-American tree. However, the defender of 

 the oak seemed to have the best argument until he made 



NATIONAL TREE VOTE WIDELY HERALDED 



When the Washington, D. C, schools participated in the study of trees and the voting for a national tree in the campaign inaugurated by 

 the American Forstry Association the newspapers in one hundred and sixty-four cities and towns described the contest and the result. 

 Washington school teachers drew the above map, showing a few of the larger cities which gave publicity to the contest. It proved to be 

 the most widely heralded school activity that any city in the United States ever had. 



someone kindly tell me what is? How many of you 

 would know a tulip tree if you saw one? How many 

 would know a dogwood tree? The dogwood is a well 

 known tree and one that is easily recognized, and, sad 

 to relate, one that is often destroyed. You may say, 

 "Well, if it is so often destroyed and, as the paper said, 

 apt to become extinct, we don't want it for our national 

 tree." Before the red, white, and blue became our 

 national flag, did it mean much to the Colonists? Would 

 they have thought much of tearing or cutting it? What 

 would we think of an American who would do such a 

 thing now? The same thing would hold good with our 



the mistake of saying that Columbus' ship was made 

 of oak. 



"Yes," said the champion of hickory with great vehe- 

 mence, "Of course his ship was not made of hickory. 

 His ship came from Europe hickory is an all-American 

 tree." 



Perhaps the greatest claim of the elm for the National 

 tree is its historic pre-eminence. This was well illus- 

 trated by depicting with small clay models the signing 

 of Penn's treaty under an elm ; Washington taking com- 

 mand of his army under an elm, with tin soldiers, cannon 

 and other regalia of war used. The tin soldiers, however, 



