46 



Shade Trees. — Signs of a Poor Farmer. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Shade Trees. 



Mr. Editor, — In a late conversation with 

 Mr. John Vaughan, I took occasion to bring 

 to his notice the highly graphic letter of Mr. 

 Solon Robinson, at page IS of the last number 

 of the Cabinet, " On planting Shade Trees," 

 as also your note in explanation ; when he 

 made tlie following observations, which ought, 

 1 think, to be recorded. He said : 



" VVMien my father planted the trees in In- 

 dependence Square, lie was careful to place 

 the variety of the American elm in the outer 

 row, that their wide-spreading branches might 

 form a more ample shade in the adjoining 

 streets; but the double row of trees leading 

 to the entrance of the State-House, were a 

 species of the English elm, that their high 

 and upright branches might form arches or 

 " cloistered boughs" above the walk, leading 

 from the gate of the square to the door of the 

 building. As they grew up, however, they 

 were found to be affected with a worm or 

 caterpillar — said to have come originally from 

 India — and which annually visited tiiem, by 

 which they were at length so much injured, 

 that it was found necessary to remove them, 

 tfieir bark being undermined from bottom to 

 top, and coming off' in long strips: with them 

 the evil ceased, and then tlie rows of trees 

 which are now growing there, were planted. 

 Now, it was said and believed, that this in- 

 sect came from India ; but hearing, some time 

 after, liiat a solitary tree in the country was 

 every year affected in the same way, I took 

 occasion to go and examine it, when I found 

 it to be the same description of tree, attacked 

 by the same description of insect and precise- 

 ly in the same manner! provinir that, what- 

 ever it was, it had been bred on the spot, and 

 had never been to India at all. 



"Ah, I once knew n very old man that 

 planted every year a numbor of trees 'for 

 posterity,' who, on being asked by some young 

 people why he was so foolish, knowing tha^t 

 he would never live to enjoy their fruit or 

 shade, replied, I am planting for myself, but 

 if I die they will not be lost, for posterity . 

 will then enjoy them. There is one tree, i 

 however, that ought never to have been plant- 

 ed in our streets; it is the Lombardy Poplar, 

 a worthless, unsightly tree, except in one par- 

 ticular spfjt— around the lone dwelling in the 

 country, where their tail spires, pointing hea- 

 venward, act the part of ministering angels 



to the weary and benighted traveller they 



then form, willi (he curling smoke from a 

 chimney, a picture, perfectly in keeping with 

 our most holy conce|)tions !'"' 



I would add, no doubt the class of men 

 whom Mr. Robmson has in view, are mainly 

 actuated by eclf-intcreited motives, but there 



is a much larger class amongst us, who, 

 blessed be God ! are " planting" in many 

 ways for the good of posterity — for the pure 

 love of it — and who, like our heavenly Mas- 

 ter, and according to his blessed book, are 

 going about doing good, hoping for nothing 

 again. And 1 must be permitted to believe, 

 that to inculcate the pure doctrines of the 

 gospel amongst the inhabitants of the prai- 

 ries, would be far more likely to induce to 

 the planting of trees, than all the laws of the 

 Persians and of the Medes combined. I con- 

 sider that as the one thing needful in situa- 

 tions so strikingly delineated by your corres- 

 pondent; and if in such, the spirit of Christi- 

 anity were "planted" at the timeof the erec- 

 tion of the log-hut, we should soon see the 

 habitation shaded with trees, and the desert 

 blossoming like the — honeysuckle ! When- 

 ever I indulge in the airy vision of " settling a 

 prairie," I always find myself commencing 

 by creating, just in the centre of it, a place 

 of worship, to which you ascend by three 

 steps — desirous of preserving even the lan- 

 guage of scripture, and literally, going up to 

 worship on the Sabbath or holiday; while 

 the building serves the purpose of teaching, 

 during the remainder of the week, that pure 

 system of faith and practice, which will se- 

 cure every comfort in this life, and the hope 

 of that which is to come. 



And there is no man living who has in- 

 dulged more in the "luxury of doing good," 

 than the venerable personage of whom men- 

 tion is made at the commencement of this ar 

 tide ; who has followed closely in the steps 

 of his excellent Father, and whose path 

 through a very long life has been strown 

 with many a flower and planted with many 

 a fair tree, the shade and fruit and fragrance 

 of which will be enjoyed by thousands, after 

 he shall have been removed to that blessed 

 country where the light of the sun and the 

 moon will never more be required — "for 

 there shall be no night there." 



All. all must come 



'J'o tlio cold tomb! 

 Only the actions of the Just, 

 Siiioll sweet and blossom in the dust ! 



J. R. 



Pliilad., Aug. 4, 1841. 



Signs of a Poor Farmer. 



He grazes his mowing land late in the 

 spring. Some of his cows are much past 

 their prime. He neglects to keep the dung 

 and ground from the sills of his building,. He 

 sows and plants his land till it is exhausted, 

 before he thinks of manuring. He keeps too 

 much stock, and many of them are unruly. 

 He has a place for nothing, and nothing in its 

 place. If he wants a chisel or a hammer, he 

 cannot find it. He seldom does any thing in 

 stormy weather, or in an evening. You will 



