146 ARBOR DAY 



perhaps, been over-celebrated. Both, however, 

 are pleasing vegetables. The poor old Pittsfield 

 elm lives on its past reputation. A wig of false 

 leaves is indispensable to make it presentable. 



Go out with me into that walk which we call tht 

 Mall, and look at the English and American elms 

 The American elm is tall, graceful, slender-sprayed, 

 and drooping as if from languor. The English elm 

 is compact, robust, holds its branches up, and carries 

 its leaves for weeks longer than our own native tree. 



Is this typical of the creative force on the two 

 sides of the ocean, or not? Nothing but a careful 

 comparison through the whole realm of life can 

 answer this question. 



There is a parallelism without identifying in the 

 animal and vegetable life of the two continents, 

 which favors the task of comparison in an extraordi- 

 nary manner. Just as we have two trees alike ir 

 many ways, yet not the same, both elms, yet easil} 

 distinguishable, just so we have a complete flor 

 and a fauna, which, parting from the same idea 1 

 embody it with various modifications. 



I have something more to say about trees, 

 have brought down this slice of hemlock to she 

 you. Tree blew down hi my woods (that were 

 in 1852. Twelve feet and a half round, fair girth 

 nine feet, where I got my section, higher up. This 

 is a wedge, going to the centre, of the general shape 



