PLANTING AND CAEE OF TREES 13 



Architecture need not be discussed, although some knowledge of 

 these professional subjects will be of special interest to anyone 

 who owns a woodlot or landed home, and will be of general inter- 

 est to all citizens to whom national conservation of our resources 

 in natural beauty as well as in natural wealth is a matter of con- 

 cern. 



Tree Study in Relation to Poeti-y and Art — Trees to most 

 people are of interest aside from their scientific or utilitarian 

 value. It is surprising to many to learn that only a small 

 proportion of the large mimber of books on trees have been written 

 primarily from the botanical or the utilitarian point of view. The 

 marjority view trees as elements in the world of beauty out of doors. 

 The highest expression of an appeciation of this beauty appears in 

 the form of poetry or art. It will accordingly be well to consider 

 trees for a moment from this viewpoint before further discussing 

 their study. 



Poetry is not an unintelligible ebullition of enthusiasm for the 

 good, the true, the beautiful. Poetry demands S3rmpathy. Sym- 

 pathy entails familiarity, knowledge; and knowledge is power in 

 poetry as in business. It is no accident that before a winter book 

 on trees was ever thought of and the color of the bud used to dis- 

 tinguish the European Ash from some of its American relatives, 

 Tennyson was able to characterize a lock of hair as "black as ash 

 buds in the front of March," and was able to see "a thousand em- 

 eralds burst from the ruby-budded lime." Few can have a pro- 

 ductive appreciation for poetry, but if we learn to see clearly and 

 with sympathy the natural beauty around us we have learned the 

 foundations upon which poetry is based. 



Trees are the most conspicuous living elements in the land- 

 scape, especially in winter, and as such must appeal strongly to 

 the student of outdoor life. To the landscape artist they are 

 more than canvas or pigments, for they are themselves the pic- 

 l!ure which on canvas with his pigments he tries to reproduce. If 

 we study art we are led to visit the museums of art. We learn 

 how in difl'erent times and in different countries men have seen and 

 interpreted beauty. Some, for example, find beauty in the single 

 form, others in groups. The result is as varied as the personality 

 of the artists. Although an advance can be discerned in the 

 method of expression and, by the process of evolution, such guid- 



