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New York know that tk isi diat ity for the planting 
and transplanting of trees, and for the preserving of the very few 
that still remain. 
Since the year 1680, the vast number of trees which once grew 
on the present site of Manhattan were obliged to be cut down; 
huge skyscrapers and tenements were built up in their places, and 
now New oe is considered the a largest city in the world. 
y from the st t of humanity, to deprive 
the densely Beoula ed sections of shade trees and balmy air, the 
only natural resource for relief during the hot summers? The 
Ce surely has been considerate in allowing these sections to be 
beautified by some small parks with many trees and bushes, in 
which the fatigued inhabitants find relief. The mauler of 
Parks, however, was not fortunate enough to secure men w: 
scientific knowledge of forestry to preserve these ae life- 
ers. Life-savers they really are, for during the past five 
summers, sickly mothers and babies, who could not afford a trip 
to the country, found relief by camping in the few parks of the 
East Side. Seward, Tomkins Square and Rutgers Square Parks 
which are in the heart of this section, were so thickly crowded 
with night campers that reserves of nearby police stations were 
obliged to patrol the parks while the East Siders slept. One of 
these parks, which had about thirty lilac bushes and a hundred 
trees, has now about ten trees scattered around the outskirts and 
very few bushes. The other two parks are almost in the same 
condition. 
Four years ago the City planted in front of every East Side 
School five or six trees, with a wire net around the trunk, and a 
tablet with the inscription 
‘CHILDREN THIS IS YOUR GIFT. 
USE IT AS YOUR FRIEND.” 
During the first summer the trees bore leaves. What joy it 
brought to the city child! What a precious friend it was! The 
next summer the trees were bare. Something was wrong with the 
precious friend. The soil was tilled, more soil added and still 
they died, and without further investigation the trees were 
