364 



ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



Specimen Programs. Port Henry, N. Y. Continued. 



sustain the limb which carries it, and each limb furnishes some nourishment to the common 

 trunk for the common welfare. The tax is always adjusted according to the ability of 

 each to contribute. As the limbs of a tree are striving for the mastery, so each bush and 

 tree in grove or forest is striving with others for the mastery. The weakest succumb to 

 the strongest ; some perish early, some lead a feeble existence for many years, while even 

 the strongest are more or less injured. With plenty of room, the trunk will be short, the 

 branches many and wide-spread ; where crowded, the lower limbs perish for want of light. 

 Dead limbs fall to the ground to protect and enrich it for nourishing the surviving limbs 

 .and the trunk. The scars heal over, more limbs perish as new ones creep upward, and 

 thus we find tall, clean trunks in a dense forest. 



First Pupil: 



How is moisture retained by forests? 

 Seventh Pupil 



The bed of the forest is a widely spread surface, piled thick with leaves, twigs, pieces 

 of fallen branches, and remnants of decayed logs, covering another layer of the same sub- 

 stances in a state of partial decomposition, overlying yet another strata completely decom- 

 posed, altogether forming a deep pot or hollow framework, penetrated with myriads of 

 pipes, tubes, and aqueducts, and interspersed with millions of miniature logs, blocking 

 and holding in position the flow of water, until the humus below fully absorbs it. The 

 large and perpendicular tap-roots which many trees possess, pass deep into the solid clay 

 strata, and send through the earth a slow and steady supply of water, which, traveling 

 away from the forests and under the cultivated fields, supply the great lower bed of moist- 

 ure, that, continually rising, fertilizes the upper soil. PHIPPS. 



Fitst Pupil: 



What effect has the cutting of forests on the water supply? 

 Eighth Pupil: 



The protection afforded by the forest against the escape of moisture from its soil by 

 superficial overflow and evaporation insures the permanence and regularity of natural 

 springs. To destroy the forest of a mountain slope is to devote the height to barrenness, 

 the valley to flood, and both to parching drought. The spring and autumn rain-fall, in- 

 stead of being stored up in Nature's reservoirs, sweeps down through the valleys in sud- 

 den and violent floods, carrying destruction with it, to be followed a little later by long 

 droughts, and very low water. 



Concert Recitation : 



I love thee in the Spring, In the hot Summer time. 



Earth-crowned forest ! when amid the shades With deep delight, the somber aisles I roam, 



The gentle South first waves her odorous wing, Or, soothed by some cool brook's melodious chime 



And joy fills all the glades. Rest on thy verdant loam. 



But O, when Autumn's hand 



Hath marked thy beauteous foliage for the grave, 

 How doth thy splendor, as entranced I stand, 



My willing heart enslave. 



The pupils were decked appropriately. The one who recited about the seed had a little 

 bunch of wheat in the head pinned on. Others had branches of trees and flowers. The 

 leader stepped out in front of the pupils and directed the question to the one who was to 

 answer, and then took her place in the ranks. The answers followed. 



9. * " THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE." Ten Pupils from 1st Gram- 

 mar Department. 



Concert Recitation : first and last verses ; other verses recited by different pupils. 



It was originally planned to have these pupils carry a branch of the apple tree in bloom, 

 but it was too early, and we did not succeed in forcing nature. In addition, they were to 

 have pinned on them a bunch of apple blossoms. As it was, we had them modestly 

 decked with as appropriate flowers as we could secure. Modesty characterized all the 

 decorations. We had enough to make the pupils look fine, and not a superfluity. 



10. SONG.* " SWINGING 'NEATH THE OLD APPLE TREE." The same 

 Ten Pupils and High School. 



First stanza repeated and the chorus repeated softly, at the close. The singing as with 

 the other songs was accompanied by organ and two violins. The ten Grammar School 

 pupils sang the separate stanzas, and the High School came in with them on the chorus. 

 The second "swinging" each time was not sung but simply played by the organ and 

 violins. The effect was fine. 



