DISEASES OF TREES LIKELY TO FOLLOW IX.TURIES. 141 



it seems to me, especially for the people of Massachusetts, on 

 which there is wide-spread ignorance and general indifference. If 

 I can succeed, even to a small extent, in diminishing popular 

 ignorance of the matter to be discussed here^ it is to lie hoped 

 that the present indifference will gi-adually disappear, for, as has 

 been the case hitherto, the members of this Society can be trusted 

 to do missionary work in arousing the public to a sense of what 

 should be done to remove existing evils. 



As far as the diseases of fruit trees and garden plants are 

 concerned, the public have their ej'es open and they require little 

 urging to lead them to seek proper means for checking the growth 

 of the fungus-parasites which affect the pocket by injuring the 

 crops, or diminish our .'esthetic enjoyment by disfiguring our gar- 

 dens and greenhouses. But with regard to our shade trees and 

 forest trees there is general indifference and, although what I have 

 to say may appear to be more appropriate for a forestry associa- 

 tion than a horticultural society, I have confidence that my hearers 

 will allow me to use the word horticulture in a large sense, and will 

 recognize that this community looks to them as the authorized 

 promoters of all that tends to the welfare, not only of fruits and 

 flowers, but also of our shade trees, which, if well cared for, are 

 both beautiful and useful. 



It is a mistaken notion that shade trees do not need care and 

 protection. Nevertheless most persons believe that, unless a tree 

 is to bear marketable fruit, it can be left to take care of itself. 

 Those who live in the remoter country districts might perhaps be 

 pardoned for holding this belief ; but those of us who live in 

 thickly settled towns ought to know by this time that the life of 

 shade trees, exposed as they are to the unfavorable or even inju- 

 rious conditions of the soil and atmosphere of manufacturing 

 districts, is a precarious one. We have all seen the older trees 

 killed off, and know that with each succeeding generation the 

 younger trees are inferior to the older, for those which escape 

 the injurious action of the soil and air are too often injured y^y the 

 wilful violence of men. 



Theoretically, if one is asked what the trees in our streets are 

 good for, he would say, to serve as shade in summer and to 

 beautify the town at all seasons. Practically, however, many 

 people believe that the great use of the trees is to serve as 

 supports for telegraph wires, as ladders for telephone workmen, or 



