FORESTRY COMMISSION. 75 



ai'e roadsides almost as beautiful as those along the Allegheny. I have 

 no doubt that many other parts of the state have roadsides equally at- 

 tractive. A row of sycamores near the Beaver River, planted by some 

 early settler, has grown into one of the stateliest ro^^■s of trees I have 

 ever seen. They have reached a height of seventy or eighty feet, with 

 massive trunks in proportion. Little attention has been paid here, 

 however, to roadside planting. The trees that have been left standing 

 remain mostly because they are not needed for firewood in this land of 

 universal coal and gas, or because the lumberman has not offered a high 

 enough price to induce the owner of the trees to have them cut. 



I think in, many cases the trees are less appreciated here than in Mich- 

 igan. I remember a sycamore that stood in front of a fine farm house 

 at the edge of the highway in Greene county, this state, which had grown 

 to be a grand specimen of its species, with a trunk straight and smooth 

 for thirty feet and a great spreading, symmetrical top. It gave character 

 to the place itself, a sort of seal or coat of arms. But the owner or some 

 one else had chopped a deep girdle about the trunk, and when I saw it 

 last its naked arms stood with a mute appeal to every passerby to notice 

 the lack of sense of some human who ought to have known better. It 

 only took a few minutes to destroy what had been a hundred years in 

 developing. The stunted, black knotted plum trees of the front yard 

 were still stunted and black knotted, and the farm had lost its most 

 attractive ornament. 



The first time I visited Dents Run. I noticed a walnut tree that stood 

 by the side of a little stream, just across the way from the store. I 

 learned that it had been planted by the pioneer settler of the little town, 

 some sixty years before. It had grown to a height of sixty feet, Avith a 

 spread of branches even greater, and when fire destroyed the store and 

 injured the tree so it had to be cut I felt that I had lost a beloved ac- 

 quaintance. The store has been rebuilt, but only the naked stump of 

 the walnut stands to mark the site of Avhat seemed to me to be the finest 

 monument that Abel Dent could have had erected to his memory. I 

 have often wondered why his descendants do not plant another Avalnut 

 by the side of the stump, which in time might rival its predecessor and 

 give character to the now naked street and shade to the unprotected 

 store front. But here, as in. Michigan, there seems to be a lack of appre- 

 ciation of the fine trees that have grown up along the roadside. Some- 

 times they are destroyed because they seem to sap the ground to the 

 injury of growing crops. In a few cases, especially in Michigjan, they are 

 the last source of firewood the farmer has remaining. Here in Pennsyl- 

 vania I have often seen fine specimens of oak and chestnut girdled even 

 along the river banks, where their loss is irreparable, and where I could 

 see no possible sense in thinking they ought to be destroyed. This is even 

 more true in some parts of West Virginia than here. 



The telegraph and telephone companies are less careful here when 

 stringing their wires than they are in ^Michigan. Often a long row of 

 trees are mutilated in horrible style and many trees entirely destroyed. 



But in Southern Michigan we have passed the day when Ave destroy our 

 trees for mere Avantonness, and have reached a time Avhen Ave are studying 

 the best methods of replacing Avhat has been destroyed or caring for 

 Avhat remains. We have many miles of roadAvay that could Avith a little 

 oare and attention be made very attractive. This is especially true in 



