The Trees of Wyoming. 63 



ment in our character, if it is to grow or even to live, 

 must have something to feed upon. We must surround 

 ourselves with those natural elements of beauty to which 

 our sentiments can go out. These are prodigally abun- 

 dant in our mountains, but Nature has dealt less kindly 

 with our great plains. 



DEVELOPMENT OF INTEREST. We must look before 

 we can expect to see; we must see before we can know; 

 we must know before our interest will be aroused; our in- 

 terest must be aroused before we will exert ourselves to 

 bring about the clothing of even our home grounds with 

 those grandest elements of beauty in any lanescape trees. 



"No tree in all the grove but has its charms." Co-wper. 



Knowledge brings interest, interest brings action. 

 But to whom may we appeal to disseminate this know- 

 ledge ? Surely to all who have ever loved the trees of 

 the old home; to all whose children are growing to man- 

 hood or womanhood in any treeless town; to all whose 

 ranch homes lie upon the wind-swept plains, and es- 

 pecially to those into whose hands we are entrusting the 

 mental training of our children. Yes, we can certainly 

 hope that our teachers will interest themselves in this 

 branch of nature study that promises so much of good to 

 the individual pupils and to the community as a whole. 



A CASE IN POINT. The early explorer who ven- 

 tured beyond the Missouri and the pioneer settler in what 

 is now Nebraska found the whole trans-Missouri region a 

 treeless, wind-swept plain, the more western part at least 

 being included in the hypothetical " Great American Des- 

 ert." Little by little the boundaries of this desert are 

 contracting and we may hope for its ultimate extinction. 



