FORESTRY FOR KENTUCKY 



A Stereopticon-Lecture Delivered at the Invitation of the 



Louisville Board of Trade by C. A. Schenck, Ph.D. 



Forester to the Biltmore Estate. 



Spring has come, and every tree freshly attired in a 



brand new spring gown is, to the educated, and often times 



to the uneducated as well, an object of joy, welcomed like a 



friend returning from abroad after a winter's absence. In 



fact, we all love trees, like friends, as friends. And true it 



is ; the trees are our friends ! They yield the shade about 



our homes ; they improve the air we breathe ; they filter the 



water we drink; and, — to speak of a more concrete service, — 



they furnish the chairs, on which my audience sit. 



. ^ As friends, the trees show more unselfish 



NaLn a.i\d Tree , . , , , , . -^^ . 



kmdness than human bemgs. — For it must 



be confessed : we do not reward their friendship by any- 

 thing beyond platonic love : we do not actively work for 

 their benefit, we fail to repay their deeds by our deeds. We 

 behave like the child, who, walking alongside his mother, 

 with a nickel in hand, meets a blind beggar assiduously grind- 

 ing his hand-organ. In spite of the mother's admonition, 

 the child refuses to part with his nickel, crying : " Papa gave 

 me the money to buy candy, — and the blind man will play 

 the organ anyhow ! " 



Sure enough : The trees, too, will work for us anyhow, 

 without any complaint, without any remonstrance. The only 

 sound which we hear from the tree, is the song of the bird 

 nesting in its branches, or the lisping talk of the leaves 

 exchanging their daily observations fanned by the evening 

 wind, or, sometimes, the low-tuned assurances of subserv- 

 ience, when the tree humbly bows before his majesty the 

 storm. And then, finally, that last heartrending cry of deadly 

 anguish strikes our ear, when the tree falls a victim to the 

 murderous axe. 



