PLANTING AND CARE OF TREES 61 



CHAPTER III 

 TEEE PLANTING IN RURAL DISTRICTS. 



. THE CONSERVATION OF GOOD SCENERY. 



Every citizen in every country is interested, or should be inter- 

 ested, in good scenery. Of the various elements that constitute 

 good scenery or that go to make up our landscape there are none so 

 ornamental nor so indispensable as trees. During the early settle- 

 ment and development of the country the problem was to get rid 

 of the trees and undoubtedly there was a great waste of timber. 

 The necessarily wasteful methods of the early settlers were handed 

 down to the later generations and the wholesale destruction of 

 forests was thoughtlessly continued until about fifty years ago. At 

 this time we first began to realize that for the benefit of the 

 coming generation and for the future prosperity of the country, 

 something must be done to stop or mitigate the unnecessary waste. 



The problem of today then is much different from that of the 

 early days and we hear a great deal now about the conservation of 

 forests and the necessity for planting trees. It is an important 

 problem from the standpoint of economy and almost equally 

 important from the standpoint of esthetics. This country is noted 

 for its fine scenery and our beautiful landscape is regarded by 

 foreigners as one of the country's greatest assets. Undoubtedly 

 there are many sections of the country that are worth more for 

 the scenery they possess than for agriculture or forestry. In dis- 

 cussions relating to the conservation of our natural resources, 

 therefore, the element of good scenery should always be considered. 

 Since good forests, good farms, and good waterways contribute 

 largely to the landscape, the element of good scenery cannot easily 

 be separated from many of the commonly recognized natural 

 resources. 



Trees have become so much a part of our civilization that it 

 would seem almost impossible to get along without them. What 

 would our homes, our country roads, our city streets, our parks, 

 and our landscape be without them? We all know that trees are 

 beautiful and even necessary in such places, but we cannot fully 

 appreciate their value till we have seen the desert. The settlers 



