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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Photograph by Judge, London 



A MAGNIFICENT SETTING 



Framed in by oak and yew trees, tne beautiful stone work of Canterbury Cathedral serves 

 as a foil for the multi-colored green verdure, and is a delight to the eye. 



fiction that 

 oaks are more 

 often struck by 

 liglitning than 

 other trees. 



The Bible 

 and many He- 

 b r a i c and 

 Christian 

 legends give 

 the oak a 

 prominent 

 place in the 

 chronicles and 

 early history 

 of the Jews 

 and the fol- 

 lowers of the 

 Nazarene. It 

 was under the 

 shade of an 

 oak that Abra- 

 ham met the 

 angels ; an oak 



covered the suicidal body of Saul and his dead sons; 

 Jacob used a friendly oak as the hiding place of She- 

 cheml's idols, and David's rebellious son Absalom was 

 caught by his flowing hair in the branches of an oak. 

 From the oak was fashioned the Cross of Golgotha, and, 

 thus accursed, by dying with the Savior, was forgiven by 

 Him, accepted by the Disciples, and finally became 

 sacred as the Tree of Mary. 



Beneath the oak the Druids carried on their mystic 

 rites. The name Druid is from the Greek, drus, a tree ; 

 first the name Dryad was derived, later changed to Druid, 

 and from the dryads sprang the belief in fairies, who 

 lived in hollow oak trees. Druide is the Gaelic name for 

 oak. In Ireland, the two famous Saints, Bridget of Kil- 

 dare and Columba of Kenmare, lived in hollow oak trees ; 

 while by the credulous children of Erin the oak was held 

 to be a sure cure for many ills, and this belief was car- 

 ried to the extent that it was said if the guilty could but 

 secure a fragment of the "Oak of Saint Colman" to hold 

 in his mouth he was safeguarded against hanging. 



In all lands are legends inspired by the oak and in all 

 lands are famous specimens which are interwoven with 

 local or national history ; in England the Parliament Oak 

 and the great Oak of Robin Hood; across the turbulent 

 Channel is the Volkenrode Oak of Gotha, and the Oak 

 of Saintes, France ; in America is the Charter Oak at our 

 own Hartford, and the old Natick Oak which sheltered 

 John Eliot while translating the Bible into Algonquin. 



The idea culminating in the giant wooden statue of 

 Hindenburg, into which nails were driven by the Ger- 

 mans in an effort to raise war funds, came from a Teuton 

 custom carried out in Vienna, where the famous oak, 

 "Stock am Eisen," stands and into which apprentices, 

 when starting on their careers as journeymen, thrust 

 a nail for luck. 



Can you 

 wonder that 

 the British 

 landscape 

 architect, 

 knowing the 

 wealth of tra- 

 dition and in- 

 timate history 

 connected with 

 the oak, and 

 with its great 

 beauty and 

 strength, dotes 

 on its use as 

 he plans and 

 works into 

 shape the gar- 

 dens and parks 

 of his beauti- 

 ful isle ? Many 

 varieties are 

 found in Eng- 

 land, some of 

 them importations, and the architect is not limited in the 

 use of this tree, but may select innumerable types of 

 leaf, coloring, and size to carry out the simplest or most 

 ambitious effects which his talents dictate. 



Among the flowers in England, the rose is queen. 

 Gorgeous example of the Rosaceae family, cultivated, 

 dignified, over-poweringly sweet, and everywhere pres- 

 ent, are used with brilliant effect by the architect and 

 florist. Of course, England has no monopoly when it 

 comes to the rose; originating in Persia, it has spread 

 wherever beauty has meaning and appeal. Think of the 

 roses of Japan, of India, Italy, Spain, France, America, 

 far-away Iceland, and the Islands of the Sea; to-day all 

 the world is its habitat. 



And does not the rose recall the barges ef the ancients, 

 and the galleys of old Venice? Attar of roses, candied 

 petals, cologne, sachet perfumes, and a thousand and one 

 delights of the boudoir come to mind with memories of 

 the rose in those ages of silks and satins, and cloth-of- 

 gold, when Venice ruled the waves. For the rose is the 

 theme of poets, the test of the painter's artistry, the hand- 

 maiden of the romanticist. Did not old Ben Johnson 

 sing: 



"I sent thee late a rosy wreath, 



Not so much honoring thee, 

 As giving me a hope, that there 



It could not withered be. 

 But thou thereon didst only breathe, 



And sendst it back to me. 

 Which since it grows and smells I swear. 



Not of itself, but thee!" 



