TREE-PLANTING. 19 



known to endure twenty-seven degrees below zero. 

 It is a handsome tree at any season, and its fruit in 

 November caused much straggling from our line 

 of march in the South. Then there is our clean- 

 boled, graceful beech, whose smooth white bark 

 has received so many tender confidences. In the 

 neighborhood of a village you will rarely find one 

 of these trees whereon is not linked the names of 

 lovers that have sat beneath the shade. Indeed I 

 have found mementos of trysts or rambles deep 

 in the forest of which the faithful beech has kept 

 the record until the lovers were old or dead. On 

 an immense old beech in Tennessee there is an 

 inscription which, while it suggests a hug, pre- 

 sents to the fancy an experience remote from a 

 lover's embrace. It reads, " D. Boone cUled bar 

 on tree." 



There is one objection to the beech which also 

 lies against the white oak, it does not drop its 

 leaves within the space of a few autumn days. 

 The bleached foliage is falling all winter long, 

 thus giving the ground near an untidy aspect. 

 With some, the question of absolute neatness is 

 paramount ; with others, leaves are clean dirt, and 

 their rustle in the wind does not cease to be music 

 even after they have fallen. 



Speaking of native trees and shrubs, we shall do 

 well to use our eyes carefully during our summer 



