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II. THe PRESERVATION OF Our NATIVE PLANTS 
Public School No. 39.* Emilie J. Lichtenstein, Principal 
The Preservation of Trees 
“. . . Trees, then, we see not only do service to the soul, and 
not only preserve for our use the springs of water, but they also 
affect the climate. The climates of countries are very different. 
They are largely influenced by the presence or the absence of 
sum up the 
services rendered by forests under three heads: (1) They screen the 
soil from the heat of the sun’s rays; (2) their leaves offer an 
immense surface to the cooling process of radiation; (3) their 
leaves give off an incalculable evaporation of moisture. From 
the trees we get coal and materials for building, we get also 
valuable drugs, gums, dyes, and articles of food. But above all 
these things it is important to remember that trees influence 
the air by taking in all the carbon dioxide which the human being 
exhales and giving out pure air or oxygen. We must also re- 
member that trees influence the soil of the country, that they 
oppose their quiet strength to the great enemies of our race, 
—extreme heat and cold—and that they have an all- ne eon 
bearing on the hidden springs of the earth. 
Selma Mittenthal—-Class 7B. 
Preservation of Wild Flowers 
““., , An appeal has been made to the public to preserve these 
plants or rather to leave them in their haunts and love them as 
they are, on the stem. If everyone could be made to understand 
the necessity of these proceedings our beautiful wild flowers 
dendron, mountain laurel, blood root, round-leaved dogwood, 
* The essays from Public School No. 39 were so good and showed such good 
teaching and interest in the dain of our native plants that it was difficult 
to choose between them, so it has been thought best to select quotations from 
several, and indicate the author and the ae for each. 
