T HE September 
meeting being 
Mrs. Gil feather’s, and 
this lady having a pen¬ 
chant for trees, the club 
was treated to "forestry 
instead of gardening,” 
according to the gentle 
sarcasm of certain of its 
members who find it 
easier to find fault than 
the program committee 
does to find favor! As 
a matter of fact, it was a 
most interesting and sci¬ 
entific lecture that we 
had ; and it was distinct¬ 
ly not forestry, although 
it was, of course, as de¬ 
cidedly not vegetable 
gardening. And we did 
not bear a thing nor 
learn a thing that we 
should not, as conscien¬ 
tious gardeners and true 
plant lovers, have heard 
and learned. But of 
course there are always 
some who apprehend that they are wasting time when they are 
given a little more solid matter than they calculated upon! 
The trees at Mrs. Gilfeather's are glorious! Great beeches 
there are that tower so high above the dwelling that they not 
only do not obstruct the view, but really make it more wonderful 
by dividing it into pictures with their beautiful satiny trunks, 
much as frames are sometimes made—triptychs, I think they are 
called. And then there are some magnificent old white pines, and 
a black walnut, and some black cherries, and some birches. Really 
it is a fine place to go to learn about trees, for most of these are 
self-grown and part of the woods which were cleared away to give 
space for their house. And such a place is rare to-day, accord¬ 
ing to the man who lectured. He was indeed most enthusiastic— 
and Mrs. Gil feather was accordingly set up! 
Naturally the trees that are there furnished him with a begin¬ 
ning, and he talked about them rather more than about others. 
But he said more than I could take in about all kinds of trees, and 
I began to understand something of the enthusiasm of tree fiends. 
Also I began to see the necessity for true forestation over vast 
areas of the land, if we are to maintain an equilibrium in the 
matter of our wood needs and the supply. Moreover, how much 
we suffer in climate and in flood because so much of the forest 
has been taken away and none returned, staggers me to contem¬ 
plate. 
"Producer and custodian of the necessaries of life and hap¬ 
piness,” he called the forest. For the trees themselves grow the 
material for homes and fuel and for industries almost without 
number. And the forest litter stores the waters to do everything 
—to provide drink for us wherever we may dwell, to irrigate the 
land and to keep up the flow of the rivers everywhere and make 
them deep and navigable, and so helpful to man. So even though 
it is not close akin to the .production of prize-winning tomatoes, 
this subject of trees is one that interests everyone who pretends 
to garden. 
It interested him, he said, to see the trees that were growing 
there at Mrs. Gilfeather's as Nature had planted them. For here 
are kinds that ought to be planted together, if one is going to 
plant many anywhere, these being natural neighbors. The beeches 
predominate, forming 
really the feature of the 
place. But there are a 
goodly number of the 
cherries, and a half- 
dozen or more of the 
pines, scattered here and 
there, and three birches 
and just one walnut— 
the walnut, it seems, not 
being a sociable tree as 
far as its own kind are 
concerned. One here 
and there in the forest, 
he told us, or just a few 
in a little group, was its 
characteristic distribu¬ 
tion ; rarely are there 
great stands of it. 
Upon this natural as¬ 
sociation of kinds he 
based advice about 
planting, dwelling on 
what he called natural 
preference of associa¬ 
tion. That plants have 
such natural preference, 
he said, many gardeners 
firmly believe, and in this assertion Miss Fucy Harwood bore 
him out when it came to the tea drinking after his talk. Some 
things will not get on with some other things, she says — and there 
is no use in trying to make them. And if Miss Fucy says it, 
it’s so! 
Trees growing as do those at Mrs. Gilfeather's — that is, under 
really natural conditions—seldom need any attention at all. They 
develop root systems that supply their needs, and they are so 
strong and thrifty that they resist insects and disease without 
any doctoring. But trees that are planted — or transplanted — to 
the positions which we choose for them, do require some care 
and must have certain of their needs anticipated, for a time at 
least, if they are to do really well. For one thing, they might 
very well have the earth above their roots cultivated the first sea¬ 
son that they are in their new quarters, quite as earth is culti¬ 
vated in a garden around flowers or vegetables. For while they 
are recovering from the shock of having been moved, they are 
mightily helped by a certain degree of coddling — which is the sum 
and substance of eartb tillage around such a thing as a tree. 
Meanwhile they are making new roots to replace the ones lost 
in the moving, and are settling themselves into soil very different, 
possibly, from that in which they have always grown. Their diet 
is consequently somewhat changed, regardless of the pains taken 
in setting them out, and more likely than not, through inexpe¬ 
rience or lack of pains in planting, many roots have been left 
“hung" — that is, in tiny spaces of the earth where the particles 
have not come quite together—in the filling-in process, and so 
have formed little pockets filled with air. Air at the roots in right 
measure is necessary to all kinds of vegetation, but air in such 
excess as this means is deadly. 
The root area of a tree is invariably as broad as the spread of 
its branches, he showed us by his charts, and sometimes it is even 
more. And all roots of consequence — all feeders — are away out 
at the outer edge of this area. Whatever is done anywhere be¬ 
tween this outer space and the bole of the tree is only half as 
effective as work done at this point or even further out than it. 
It is therefore necessary to cultivate the tips of the feeders, which 
( Continued on page 170) 
true story of the work of a certain such club and its accomplishments taken from the diary of one 
of its members. M'hat this club actually did should be a stimulus to all who love gardens and a 
guide to the zvays and means of improving our tozons and villages. These chapters began in the 
February issue, when the organization of the Club was discussed. Each instalment shows how the 
program of activities was followed out. 
150 
