Arbor Day Leaves | Page 8

all her travels Was never so near the sky! Only the
swallow, a-skimming The storm-cloud over the lea, Knows how it feels
to be flying-- When the gusts come strong and free-- In the tip o' the
top o' the top o' the tip of the popular poplar tree!
--BLANCH WILLIS HOWARD.
FORESTRY AND THE NEED OF IT.
"Experience as well as common sense teaches us that the selecting of
the species and the mere planting of the same is not a guarantee of
successful forestry."
In this country we have heretofore not made any distinction between
forests and woodlands, while in Europe, and more especially in those
countries in which forestry has reached a high state of development, the

distinction is clearly defined. Prof. Rossmässler, in speaking of the
difference between forest and woodland (Forst und Wald), says: "Every
forest is also a woodland, but not every woodland, be it ever so large, is
a forest. It is the regular cultivation and economical management which
turns a woodland into a forest."
This difference between forests and woodland is also indicated by the
terms forester and woodman; the former term being applied to the man
who advocates the perpetuation of woodland in accordance with the
teachings and principles of forestry, and the latter to the man whose
profession is that of felling trees.
In this meaning of the term, we, in this country, have really no forests,
but woodlands only. To turn these woodlands into forests, and to plant
forests, where for climatic and other considerations they are needed, is
the aim and object of the advocates of forestry.
The forester, it will be seen, has a distinct mission, which is to
perpetuate the forests so indispensable to civilized life, and to produce
at a minimum expense, from a given piece of ground, the greatest
amount of forest products.
As our forests decrease in extent and deteriorate in quality, and as, with
the increase of our population, the demands upon forest products of all
kinds become greater, the necessity of a rational system of forestry, and
the need of educated foresters becomes more apparent every day. We
should, moreover, constantly bear in mind that, while there are trees, as
the catalpa, the ash and the hickory, which will attain merchantable size
in forty or fifty years from the seed, there are others such as the pine
and the tulip-poplar, which require for reaching the necessary
dimensions a period of from sixty to eighty years; and still others, such
as the oaks and the black walnut, for the full development of which
about a hundred and fifty years are required. Can we, in view of this,
still be in doubt as to whether or not the time has come when we should
earnestly consider the question?
Hon. ADOLPH LENÉ, Secretary of Ohio State Forestry Bureau.

TREE WEATHER PROVERBS.
If the Oak is out before the Ash, T'will be a summer of wet and splash;
But if the Ash is out before the Oak, T'will be a summer of fire and
smoke.
When the Hawthorne bloom too early shows, We shall have still many
snows.
When the Oak puts on his goslings gray, 'Tis time to sow barley, night
or day.
When Elm leaves are big as a shilling, Plant kidney beans if you are
willing; When Elm leaves are as big as a penny, You must plant kidney
beans if you wish to have any.
FLOWERS.
Spake full well, in language quaint and olden, One who dwelleth by the
castled Rhine, When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, Stars,
that in earth's firmament do shine.
Stars they are, wherein we read our history, As astrologers and seers of
eld; Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery, Like the burning stars
which they beheld.
Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, God hath written in those
stars above; But not less in the bright flowerets under us Stands the
revelation of His love.
Bright and glorious is that revelation, Writ all over this great world of
ours-- Making evident our own creation, In these stars of earth, these
golden flowers.
--LONGFELLOW.
Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity; children
love them; tender, contented, ordinary people love them. They are the
cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town mark, as with a little

fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose heart rests
the covenant of peace.
RUSKIN.

Arbor Day Celebrations.
[Illustration]
GROWING OBSERVANCE OF ARBOR DAY.
It adds to the pleasure attending the observance of Arbor Day when we
think how many are uniting with us in its celebration. It is but a few
years since the day was first known and its observance was limited to a
single one of our States. Now the day is known and