April 5, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



151 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by 



Professor C. S. Sargent. 



entered as second-class matter at the post office at new YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1893. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles : — Arbor Day 151 



A Too Realistic Statue 152 



Alpine Plants H. Correvon. 152 



Impotency of Pollen Fred. IV. Card. 153 



Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — X. (With figure.) C. S. S. 153 



Cultural Department : — Hardy Perennials for Cutting T. D. H. 156 



Flowering Plants tor Cool Houses W. H. TapUn. 1 56 



City Gardening J. N. Gerard. 157 



Correspondence :— Cyclamens at the Columbian Exposition E. y. Hill. 157 



The Forests of the South Henry L. Tolman. 158 



TheEdelweiss M. G. tst) 



A Country-seat in California Carl Piirdy. 159 



Recent Publications 159 



Notes > 60 



Illustration :— Acer Nikoense, Fig. 26 155 



Arbor Day. 



THE highest purpose which can be served by the ob- 

 servance of Arbor Day is to increase popular knowl- 

 edge in regard to trees. The forest-problems which confront 

 us cannot be dealt with efficiently until an active public 

 opinion is aroused ; that is, until the great mass of people 

 have become so well informed as to the nation's needs that 

 they will compel the establishment of an enlightened forest- 

 policy. Nor can good taste in regard to tree-planting for 

 ornament ever become general so long as the great bulk of 

 the people grow up without being able even to call by 

 name the trees under whose branches they pass every day. 

 It is a fortunate thing, therefore, that this celebration has 

 become a children's holiday, for few people who do not 

 begin to study trees early ever acquire any adequate 

 knowledge of them later in life. That the idea of instruc- 

 tion has been a fundamental one in the observance of 

 Arbor Day is proved by the number of addresses delivered 

 on that occasion. But sometimes those who arrange for 

 the celebration are apt to think that any man who can talk 

 fluently is capable of instructing children in such a simple 

 subject as trees and their uses, and that any minister, law- 

 yer or editor can rise up and deliver an address ofif-hand 

 which will not only interest the children but give them all 

 the instruction they need. Of course, this is a mistake. 

 Whatever is said to make the day one worth observing 

 must come out of the fullness of knowledge and experi- 

 ence, and whatever is done should be done with fore- 

 thought and deliberation if it is to have any educational 

 value. 



But where shall the teaching of the children begin .' It 

 certainly cannot be out of place, at the outset, to give them 

 an object-lesson in the proper method of planting trees. In 

 order to plant them to the best advantage the ground 



should have been prepared last fall. The holes to receive 

 the roots should have been dug wide and deep and the 

 ground shoveled back again and left for the winter to set- 

 tle, and in the centre of this a fresh excavation should be 

 made large enough to receive the roots in their natural po- 

 sition, and about them the fine earth should be carefully 

 sifted and rammed down tightly, so that the roots and the 

 earth should come into the closest contact. Trees dug up 

 with few roots and thrust carelessly into a hole may live, 

 but any one who has marked the difference between a 

 starved and dwarfed tree and one which has developed to 

 its full proportions, with sturdy growth and ample foliage, 

 will understand why it is worse than a waste of time to do 

 the work of planting in any other than the best manner. 

 There is no need here to give any further details, but it is 

 certainly worth while to instruct children as to the very 

 best methods of planting and to explain the reason for 

 every step in the process until the final staking is done, 

 and to explain, still further, that the care of the tree does 

 not end at this point, but, in reality, just begins, and that 

 years of watchfulness can alone insure the development of 

 a perfect specimen. 



Of course, very little can be learned about trees and tree- 

 planting if the subject is only touched upon one day in the 

 year. If it were made a part of the ceremony of Arbor Day 

 in every place to examine the trees that had been planted the 

 year before, and to report on their present condition, it could 

 be ascertained whether the enthusiasm of the planter was 

 fictitious or so genuine that the regard for the trees had 

 continued throughout the year and had expressed itself in 

 proper care and protection. If these ceremonies inspire 

 the young people who take part in them with something 

 like an affectionate interest in the trees that are planted, 

 whether as memorials of persons or of events, or because 

 they are dedicated to or adopted by some special class, they 

 will be much less likely to suffer from lack of oversight. 

 This is one of the cases where the influence of sentiment, which 

 practical people so generally scoff at, can be directed to 

 practical purpose. The young people, who are anxious to 

 see the trees they love increase in strength and beauty, are 

 in the mood to receive instruction as to the proper mode of 

 pruning where this is needed, as well as the most effective 

 means ofguarding against insects and disease and the attacks 

 of animals. All this means that Arbor Day should be the 

 culmination of instruction which should continue through- 

 out the year, and should broaden out until school-chil- 

 dren are familiar, not only with the names of native trees, 

 but with their special uses and their special habits, and until 

 they can give an intelligent reason in every instance why 

 a tree of a particular species should be selected for a par- 

 ticular place or a particular purpose. They should know 

 how to plant it, so that it \vouldbe reasonably sure of vigor 

 and long life, and they should know how to care for it 

 afterward intelligently. 



It is only when Arbor Day exercises take such a practi- 

 cal and definite character that much good can be expected 

 of them. The music and the oratory will be of little avail 

 without something substantial in the way of example and 

 instruction. It is of the first importance that young people 

 should grow up to know more about trees before they can 

 give any proper thought to their true relation to the life and 

 welfare of the people. We shall never have a national 

 forest-policy that is of any value until every farmer in the 

 country has been instructed from his youth up in the 

 care of his wood-lot, and every dweller in town has been 

 brought in the same way to have a life-long interest in the 

 care of the trees along the public highway. And when we 

 turn from the economic aspect of tree-planting to its aes- 

 thetic side we can say, with equal truth, that trees will 

 never have for us as a people that poetic charm, they will 

 never fill us with that deep delight, they will never express 

 to us those ideas of grace, mercy and peace which it is 

 theirs to give, unless we are attracted to them in early life 

 and feel their influence growing with our growth and 

 strengthening with our strength. 



