CHRISTMAS TREES. 
FRED. A. WATT. 
OUR Christmas tree is a relic of 
the old heathen times and came 
down to us as a part of the 
Yule festival. It seems to have 
originated in Germany and can be 
traced back as far as the year 1604 with 
certainty, and as it was an established 
custom at that time it is evidently much 
older. 
How the early man conceived the 
idea is open to dispute, but in my opin- 
ion it is due to an old superstition 
which has some believers even to this 
day. It is said that any maid who is 
not kissed under the Mistletoe at 
Christmas will not be married during 
the year following. I have no doubt 
that the anxiety of the young ladies to 
be always found under the Mistletoe 
on that day has led to the profuse green 
decorations, from which it is only a 
step to the Christmas tree. 
It was introduced into the Court of 
St. James in 1840 by Prince Consort 
Albert of Saxe-Cobourg, and the cus- 
tom spread rapidly through the aristo- 
cratic families of London and was 
almost immediately adopted by all 
classes throughout England. 
It was introduced into the court at 
Paris in 1830 by the Duchess of Orleans 
and is now a French custom. 
It seems, however, that in our own 
country it has taken deepest root. 
Here, by reason of the democratic na- 
ture of the people, it may be said to be 
distinctively American, as the German 
who first introduced it undoubtedly 
becamean Americancitizen longago and 
his successors are probably numbered 
among our best citizens even to the 
present time. Our people of all na- 
tionalities have adopted it and we find 
it installed in our churches, our family 
gatherings, our schools, and private 
clubs. Our nineteenth century inventor 
has even tried to change it into an af- 
fair of cast iron, through whose hollow 
trunk and branches gas pipes aie con- 
ducted and gas jets among the branches 
take the place of candles. One of the 
results of all this is that the demand 
for Christmas trees and Christmas 
greens has grown to enormous propor- 
tions in our larger cities and furnishes 
employment during the latter part of 
September and through November and 
December to a number of people who 
make a business of gathering the gay 
green branches and transporting them 
to market. 
While traveling through the southern 
part of Maine a few years ago, I was 
struck by the symmetry and beauty of a 
tract of Evergreen Trees and remarked 
that they would make good Christmas 
trees. I afterward found that such was 
likely to be their fate, as men who make 
a business of "clam-whopping" and 
fishing during the summer months 
turned their attention during the fall to 
the business of gathering these trees 
and shipping them to New York, Phila- 
delphia, and Boston. 
In looking the subject up to deter- 
mine what became of all these Trees I 
found an industry which I had not 
dreamed of. I find that the Christmas 
greens for New York City were first 
shipped from Keyport, N. J. Thatasthe 
demand for them assumed larger propor- 
tions the raw material was exhausted in 
that neighborhood, but the inhabitants 
having become interested in the busi- 
ness, and finding it a source of profit, 
have continued to advance into the 
surrounding country, little by little, un- 
til now they are gathering Spruce from 
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, 
Princess Pine from Vermont, White 
Pine from Michigan and even Wiscon- 
sin, Laurel and Holly from the South, 
and in fact they can now gather only 
Balsam on the home grounds in paying 
quantities. 
In addition to the above-named ever- 
greens, quantities of Ground Pine, Cape 
Flowers, Fir, Hemlock, the plants of 
the Club Mosses, berried Black Alder, 
Quill Weed, and Mistletoe are sought 
out and gathered wherever found and 
shipped — the Christmas trees to New 
York where they lie piled up by thou- 
sands along West street facing the dock 
lines, for several weeks before the holi- 
days, and the other greens to Keyport 
