41 



" He sang of paradise and smiled, 

 Eemembering Vallombrosa." 



When penetrating these dense forests and clambering up the 

 steep ascents to the valley summit, I felt the fitness of his 

 familiar words, and familiar they deserve to be with all our 

 youth. 



"Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks, 



In Yallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades 



High over arched, embower. 



. . . And overhead up grew, 



Insuperable height of loftiest shade, 



Cedar, and pine, and fir ard branching palm, 



A sylvan scene ; and as the ranks ascend 



Shade above shade, a woody theater of stateliest view." 



An hour's ride from Florence by the Arezzo Railway brings 

 one to Pontassieve. Thence a drive of some eight miles by a 

 series of zigzags and through avenues of cypress and mulberry 

 trees, leads to the terminus of the carriage road. Grand and 

 extensive views of the beautiful valley of the Arno (Yal 

 d' Arno), open at every turn, with fine vineyards, orchards 

 and highly cultivated fields, here and there protected by long 

 dykes from the river floods which forest denudations on the 

 tributaries of the Arno have occasioned. From the road a foot 

 and mule path of three miles up a steep ascent leads to the an- 

 cient monastery. Here were workmen cutting spars for ship 

 building, to be floated down the Arno to Pisa, or into the Medi- 

 terranean. These Benedictine monks centuries ago understood 

 well the economic value of tree planting. It is due to their 

 sagacity and foresight that these vast lands are now densely 

 covered with various pines, firs, beech and chestnut. The very 

 position of the trees, standing in exact rows, shows that tree 

 planting on a large scale has here been successfully carried on 

 for centuries. The silver firs, planted around the abbey centuries 

 ago, are now magnificent and stately trees. 



The following sketch of this Forest School is condensed from 

 a fuller history given me by Director Berenger. This monastery 

 was appropriated by the State in 1865, and opened as a Forest 

 School in 1867, though its organization was not completed till 

 nearly two years later. As the snow lies deep for three months 

 on these mountain heights, the school is transferred for four 



