ploid mutation of American Elm by Dr. J. M. 
Beal, chairman of the Botany Department of the 
University of Chicago). And its high resistance 
to plagues, drought, and its consistently healthy 
and vigorous habits and growth make it seem that 
NATURE created this variation to help achieve 
the ecological balance necessitated by the new 
tree plantations on former grass lands. 
OLD AGE 
Gordon S. King, Assistant Professor of Abbori- 
culture at the University of Massachusetts, re- 
cently said in an article about the successful pro- 
gram for the control of Dutch Elm Disease on 
his campus: “We are continuing to raise elms in 
our nursery for future planting, because we feel 
that the elm is here to stay... .” After the 
original great fear of the elm plagues, many peo- 
ple are coming around to the belief that the “e/m 
1s here to stay!’ These people realize that trees 
can die of old age. We accept ultimate death in 
human life. But when an elm tree grows old and 
dies, most people will find it unusual and begin 
to search for outside forces that killed it. Many 
New England elm trees which have been thought 
to have succumbed in recent years to one of the 
elm plagues have died rather of old age; and 
many of the deaths in the Middle West can be 
attributed to a natural adjustment of an eco- 
logical balance. 
CEREMONIAL AND DEDICATED 
TREBSPLAN TING 
Surely there must be a purpose and program 
in order to plant memorial trees. John Greenleaf 
Whittier said that “the wealth, beauty, fertility 
and healthfulness of the country largely depend 
upon the conservation of our forests and the 
planting of trees.” To impress this truth upon 
the minds of the young, the Nebraska State Legis- 
18 
