23G THE FLORIST AND 



Add living monuments, and multiply them upon the earth. It was a 

 beautiful custom, that, when the betrothed planted each a tree, standing 

 side by side, through years that come, their branches interlocked — their 

 flowers kissed each other, and keeping vigils of love through storm and 

 through sunshine — they remained living sentinels over that affection which 

 never dies. We once new two of earth's better spirits, gentle in their na- 

 tures, lovely in their angelic semblance, bewitching in their beauty, and 

 thus they planted their affections side by side in front of the old homestead 

 — those emblem-cedars grew, and when the fair hands which had planted 

 them, were twining wreaths with the cherubin around the altars of the 

 blessed, they still stood flourishing over the decay of the past. But the old 

 homestead has passed into the hands of strangers, the beautiful lesson 

 taught by these trees has been forgotten, and to make visible the glaring- 

 ness of modern improvement, they too, like their sweet emblem spirits, are 

 numbered amongst the things that once were upon this earth. 



And again, when a child is born a birth-day tree should be planted. We 

 know an elm which marks the natal hour of a matron in a neighboring vil- 

 lage, and we never pass that early budding tree without thanking the hon- 

 ored father who taught us a good lesson when he set its roots in the mellow 

 soil before his door. 



The hot sweltoring walls of our cities call for trees — trees to feed upon 

 the vapors which spring from over-peopled quarters, and convert them into 

 healthy-breathing atmosphere. The shade of trees is more genial and 

 grateful to the pent-up dwellers of cities than it is to most of those who 

 ramble in sylvan groves, during the free an unrestrained years of a life in 

 the country. Let those then, who are forced to dwell in the busy marts of 

 the world, be blessed by shade — shade in the streets, shade in the capacious 

 parks and pleasure grounds. God made trees enough, so that every human 

 being could revel in their shade. The tawney savage seeks his leafy home, 

 under the Titans of this Western world— the sons of the desert bless Allah 

 for the refreshing shade of the graceful palms, and the white man, who 

 claims to be civilized, alone evinces a thoughtless spirit of tree-destruction. 

 For him there is no bound or limit, and the whim of a moment is frequently 

 gratified at the expense of centuries of beautiful forest growth. 



Is that new era coming when we are to be planters instead of ravagers ? 

 Will the few examples of ornamental landscape adornment and improve- 

 ment, be copied and become working texts to the millions ? Are we to hear 

 of forests plantations to be reared upon our old fields ? Are the glaring 

 eye-straining white houses of the land, to be soon hidden by graceful forest 



