THE FOREST 163 



salt marshes seemed an ambitious untlcrtaking, 

 but, with the enthusiasm of youth, although some 

 would have said I was old enou<j^h to know better, 

 I dedicated in the summer of 1900 an acre of nu' 

 grass land to what I fondly named my "Forest." 

 My objects were two fold: firsts to make a col- 

 lection of New England trees so that I might 

 become familiar with them in all stages of 

 growth. 



''No distant tree hut by his shape was known 

 Or^ near at hand, by leaf or bark alone.'' 



Foreign emigrants were not desired. European 

 trees, so commonly planted about houses, were to 

 be rigidly excluded. Second, to make an attrac- 

 tive place for birds. On the latter account I in- 

 tended to plant the trees thickly, and, although I 

 might later thin them out to some extent, I did 

 not propose to prune off the lower branches in the 

 picnic grove style, nor did I wish to avoid the 

 crowding common to real forests, and attractive 

 to the birds, but not considered desirable by 

 arboriculturists. Not that I loved trees less, but 

 birds more. 



