December, 191G 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
163 
New York, N. Y. The tree erected in Madison Square was brought from the Adirondacks. It was 75 ft. high. Both day and night it attracted large crowds of vistors 
Pittsburg, and San Francisco erected public 
trees for the Christmas season; the third 
season they had them in Dayton, Omaha, 
Des Moines, and in a great many other cities. 
This year tliere will probably be fifty municipal 
Christmas trees throughout the country in 
the larger cities. Moreover, the thought has 
had expression in many suburban homes in the 
placing of outdoor Christmas trees on the 
lawn. 
Four years ago it was an experiment. Now 
it is a fixed institution. One need only visit 
these trees and watch the people, hear their 
expressions of pleasure to understand the 
value of the trees. Workmen had quite a 
task to get that first tree in position on Christ- 
mas Eve, and they worked with a rush to have 
it wired and ready before dark. On the top- 
most branch they placed a giant electric star 
and twined through the branches were eight 
thousand electric lights. Then came dark- 
ness and then a fine dry snow sifted down. 
Nothing could have been better. Every 
branch and twig and frond of the giant Fir 
glistened as though encrusted with diamonds. 
And at sundown after the last lights had 
faded beyond the skyscrapers bordering the 
Hudson, and beyond the towering Palisades, 
these lights were all switched on at once. 
1 he great star at the top of the tree sent out a 
beckoning light remindful of the Star of Old 
which guided the wise men of Jerusalem to the 
manger in Bethlehem. 
Then appeared a band of trumpeters 
sounding the fanfare from “Parsifal.” Near- 
by, the church of Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst 
opened wide every window and door and one 
of the largest and best of choirs in all New 
York sang “Silent Night.” 
From sundown until midnight this great 
star twinkled from the tree-tops and hundreds 
of thousands of people gathered about the 
tree in the square, upon the streets around the 
square, and in the windows and on the roofs 
of the skyscrapers. 
In this manner the splendid idea, which was 
brought into being by the mental vision of one 
woman of imagination and perception, was 
carried out with great success. 
In Boston the Mayor presides over the 
celebration, a choir of trained voices sing 
ancient carols, followed by “America.” 
Thirty thousand people were generally gath- 
ered on the Common. 
In Hartford on Christmas Eve the Foot- 
guards Band awaken the echoes with the 
stains of “Onward Christian Soldiers.” It 
seems as though the entire city turns out to 
participate in this celebration beneath the 
open sky. The tree stands for a week and is 
the centre around which young and old 
gather to pass Christmas greetings. 
In San Francisco last year there were seven 
trees put up in Golden Gate Park, all ablaze 
with electric decorations. The park rever- 
berated with the music of many bands, while 
the mayor and members of the City Council 
headed an elaborate parade, and on Christ- 
mas day there were daylight fireworks. 
1 here is in all a suggested possibility for 
the home gardener. Suitable evergreen trees 
may be purchased in the nursery and used 
symbolically either placed temporarily on the 
lawn or planted permanently. The use of 
living trees in tubs and boxes is surely more 
appropriate to the sentiments of a garden lover 
that the use of a chopped down sappling from 
the forest. Let’s all plant living Christmas trees. 
