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Show v : PLANT A TREE I j By rrederic J. Hasktn. . WASHINGTON. D. C, Sept. S. Thousands Thou-sands of memorial trees have been planted since the end cf the war, and many thousands thou-sands moro will be planted this fall and next spring, according to the American forestry association, which is a lending sponsor of the memorial tree movement. Th- planting of memorial trees is hailed bv Chrrles Iathrop I'ack and uther authorities au-thorities on forestrv as a most important d.-velopment. because it will tend to implant im-plant hat.it in the American people. Ye ne.nl both tho tres themselves and the greater respect for trees, and knowledge or tivur value which tree planting will teach. The foresters point out that France could not have resisted the German invasion but for her car'Uinv tended forests, which supplied sup-plied all of the timber necessary for al of the armies on the French front. And the excellent roads of France, concealed from hostile airmen by overarching rows of shade trees, were an equally important element in her defense. In our own countrv, there is an excellent excel-lent example of what tree planting can accomplish in half a century. In 1S;0, Nebraska was a prnirio state, Just beginning begin-ning to be settled by farmers. The farmers farm-ers had to have timber, and trees to break the wind. In 1S74 Governor Furnas of Nebraska, at tho suggestion of J. Sterling Morten, set asido April 3 as Arbor day, and in 1SS5 the state legislature made April 22 a legal holiday for tree planting. This started an interest in tree planting which has resulted in Nebraska's becoming a state well supplied with timber and 1 known for its progressive forestry policies. Nebraska was the first state in the union to set aside an arbor day. Tennessee and Kansas followed in 1S76. Every state in tho Union now has an arbor day, some in the spring, but most in the fall. The planting of memorial trees has taken some unique forms. In Minneapolis the plans have been made for a great memorial drive, that will be one of the sichts of the continent in 1950. The drive will connect two parks and will be iined with trees from end to end. C. M. Loring, the father of the Minneapolis park system, has set aside $50,000 for the perpetual care of these trees. At Canton, Penn., the home of Jane Delano of the Red Cross, who died in France, a tree has been planted In memory of Miss Delano, surrounded by a protecting circle of twelve other trees, each representing repre-senting a soldier or marine who lost his life in the war. At St. Albans, Vt., an avenue a mile and a half long has beeen planted with memorial memo-rial trees by the Autonoe club of women. In many cases, fruit and nut trees are being planted as memorials. A drive is under way to have an apple tree planted in every victory garden in the . country. With apples selling for five cents a piece, an apple tree In the back yard will be worth a great deal more than it costs to p)ant and care for it. One apple tree will easily supply all the apples needed by a family. And, if statistically minded, you can figure for yourself what it would be worth to the nation if each of the ten million victory gardeners raised a bearing apple tree in his back yard. The colleges are also taking a hand in the tree planting business. Incoming freshman classes this fall in many colleges will plant trees, or in some instances, a tree for every member of the class. Trees are also growing in favor as memorials to be left by departing senior classes. The rapid spread of road building, which Is sure to follow the war, also offers a fine opportunity for tree planting. The advantages of having a road well shaded scarcely needs emphasis. A shady road saves energy, both for man and for beast, by protecting them from the hot sun. It saves automobile tires In the same way, the sunbaked macadam being one of the deadliest enemies of rubber tires. In addition ad-dition to this the trees have a purely esthetic value, of course; they act as wind breaks, and they help to regulate drainage. drain-age. In Great Britain, the planting of memorial memo-rial trees along highways is being pushed systematically. "Roads of remembrance" these tree-lined highways are to be called, and there will be memorial bridges along them in commemoration of special divisions, divi-sions, individuals, or events. ' The American Forestry association,, "Washington, D. C, is ready to help anyone any-one who wants to plant memorial trees. It will give directions for planting, tell how to get the trees, and suggest appropriate appro-priate programs for arbor day and other celebrations. This renewed Interest in tree planting ' is expected to stimulate rivalry between j the various American cities in the matter ! of street trees. Some American cities are ' rich in trees, while others are surprisingly i poor. Washington leads in this respect, j not only in the United States, but in the I whole world. Paris is the second city in i this respect, but, although several times I the size of Washington, it has only S4.000 trees. And the American capital is constantly con-stantly gaining on the French one by reason rea-son of the natural advantages of having a much better soil. The soil of Paris is too chalky for the raising of trees. Washington has 292 double rows of trees along its streets, and it is adding to them at the rate of from 1500 to 3000 trees a year. Many parts of the city are really a forest. AH of the trees planted in Washington Wash-ington are grown in nurseries maintained by the department of trees and parking, from seed gathered in the streets. Washing ton's remarkable collection of street and park trees was begun only in 1S72, and most of the work has been done in the last quarter of a century. Very few of the first trees planted are "left. Clifford Lnnham, who has been head of the department depart-ment of trees and parking for twenty-eight twenty-eight years, found, when he took charge, that most of the early tree planters had made the srreat mistake of planting quick-growing quick-growing trees. ' Quick-growing trees are almost always short lived. Thus the streets of Washington were lined with Carolina poplars and soft maples, which were bound" to die out. Mr. Lanhan has replaced nearly near-ly all of them "with elms, oaks of several different species, and hard maples. There aro a few very old trees in Washington. Wash-ington. The most famous of these is the elm which stands in front of the Willard hotel on Pennsylvania avenue: It Is known as the Bell elm because Bell stood under it when he announced his invention of the telephone. In the old days, when newspaper row was on Fourteenth street, right across from the Willard, the Washington Wash-ington newspaper men used to gather under un-der the old elm on hot summer clays to swap news items and gossip. The old Bell elm is on its last roots. The widening of Fourteenth street deprived it of a large part of its anchorage, and, although al-though its top has been trimmed to fit its underpinning, it is not expected to live much longer. |