force to break a large sign or label; or if, as once actually hap- 
pened in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one brings a revolver into 
the grounds and deliberately fires at the labels; if one takes a dog 
into an inclosure and allows him to run at random over flower 
beds, when a sign at the entrance states in legible letters that 
dogs are not allowed to enter; or if one pulls up a large number 
of labels and piles them in a heap, thus introducing serious con- 
fusion in a planting, and entailing considerable labor, with 
attendant expense, to right the wrong, and especially when the 
offense is repeated several times in one season; or, again, if one 
deliberately picks all the flowers from a rare gentian or from a 
small patch of trailing arbutus, in such cases one is forced to 
conclude that the nuisance was committed either in a malicious 
spirit, or at least with a full realization of its significance and 
wrongfulness. 
If the girdling of our white birch were interpreted in the char- 
itable way, the affair seemed to offer an opportunity to teach an 
important lesson in plant physiology, and an equally important 
lesson in social ethics. It was therefore decided to prepare a 
label calling attention to the injury of the tree, and briefly stating 
the botanical reasons why the tree would die as a result of the 
girdling. The label read as follows: 
I\1 O X I O E 
X H I €3 TREE 
For an unknown reason some visitors to 
the Botanic Garden have removed the bark 
all the way around, near the base of this 
tree-trunk. 
Doubtless the serious nature of the injury 
was not known by those who did it, but 
nothing can now save the life of the tree. Its 
leaves will remain fresh for the rest of the 
summer, because the water necessary to 
keep them fresh passes up through the wood 
just inside the bark. 
The leaves make the food that nourishes 
the roots and other parts, and this food 
passes down through the bark. Thus, after 
the removal of the bark, no food can reach 
the roots and the base of the trunk, and 
hence these parts will starve. The tree will 
therefore not put forth any leaves next 
spring, and will have to be cut down. 
If these facts had been known, the injury 
might not have been done. 
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
