GENERAL NOTES 29 



There is nothing to prevent us from having water- 

 melon in the food supply any more than we are pre- 

 vented from having some nice jingling dimes in the 

 pocket along with a large roll of ten dollar bills. 

 Both are handy to have in the house. 



Aside from all such unpoetic questions as those of 

 food supply, interest in trees belongs to a larger 

 order than interest in potatoes, oats, and hay. There 

 is more inspiration in a tree than in an annual plant 

 because the tree seems to be a standing object lesson 

 of highly organized forces, more stable and perma- 

 nent than those of an annual plant. The larger love 

 which men seem to have instinctively for trees will 

 elevate standards of agriculturists who deal with 

 them. The horse rancher is said to be of better 

 average character than the sheep rancher, the differ- 

 ence being due to the difference in the characters of 

 their separate wards. The hard continuous labor 

 that goes with general farming and the social poverty 

 as a logical consequence drives more and more young 

 men from the farm today. Tree problems while giv- 

 ing free scope and range to the highest degree of 

 science and knowledge which can be brought to bear 

 do not include necessarily such an absorption of time 

 that time limitation is placed upon travel, self-culture 

 and the higher social needs. Trees once established 

 still need attention to be sure, and the better the 

 attention, the better the tree. They do not include 

 the idea of getting farm income by sitting on a 

 three-legged stool in a cold barn at five o'clock in 

 the morning, with flickering lantern light and milk- 



