Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-07-27
Centennial Tree-PIantinS.

newspaper, of a Jealous citizen, in one
of our Northern States, who has COM
memorated the Centennial year of our
Independence by the extensive plant
! ing of trees.
| We wish the newspapers that chrOni-
/ Gle this act of patriotic forethought
could inspire their readers with a
| hearty emulation thereof, so that, ere
the year ends its course, every house
| hold shall have planted its share Of
| trees-shall have given to the future
its contribution toward highways tenn
pered by refreshing shade, and have
added to the number of cottages that
shall nestle under the fretted network
| Of green leaves.
Could we devise better way for
signally commemorative this epoch in
our National life? Each tree thus
| planted would be a monument of our
reverence of the past, and a blessing
for the future; and by this generous
forethought the next Centennial would
be celebrated in a land of orchards, of
wooded hills, of green lanes, Of groves
that would be fit temples for the
Dryads, of towns hid among arching
bOughs, of urban and suburban places
crowned with sylvan beauty.
In an Jealous devotion to the cultiva-
ton of trees we should strengthen and
perpetuate one of the best characters
tics of our National towns. Could we
have sent to the Philadelphia EXhibi-
ton the street of an American village
one of those elm-lned avenues, with
embOWered cottages standing back
from the highway, which are SO album
dant in our land-we should have
shown our foreign visitors feature
captivating in it's beauty, and yet one
peculiarly our own. The travelling
American may feel fresh interest in
the narrow streets and quaint old
houses Of European towns; but this
is pure novelty of sensation, for the
American village is constructed upon
a principle that gives it prominently
the palm Of beauty and healthfulneSs.
Unfortunately, these tree-lined ave-
nues too often stop at the borders of
the town; the traveller energies from
outrageous shade into long stretches
OF sandy roadway, upon which the
summer sun pOurs down with unin-
terrupted ferceness. How easy it
might have been in the years past for
the people of the towns to have come
together and stretched their avenues
Of arching bOughs from village to vii
| lage! Had this been done, we could
now show our Centennial visitors the
most truly beautiful land in the world.
For neither mountains, nor lakes, nor
broad rivers, nor green valleys, have
the highest charm of landscape beau
ty. A mountain without trees at it's
base, or upon it's sides, is commonly
| lumpish mass; lake whose shores are
not bOrdered with towering mOnarchs
, of the forest is deprived of the setting
which gives to expenses of water their
greatest charm; and a valley that is
not broken with orchards, and dotted
in its meadows with wide-spreading
! In rural picture trees have the first,
the last, and the intermediate place in
the scale of beauty; other objects set
off or vary the picture, but trees have
the essential place. A sWiftly-running
| stream, for instance, broken into cas-
cades, is very beautiful when shad-
owed by trees; but it is nothing if the
| light does not fall upon it's surface
broken by interlacing boughs, or if
green vistas do not hold it in mystic
rious depths of shadow.
The tree is almost as desirable in
cities as it is upon country by-ways or
in rustic villages. 1t screens the prom
enader at high noon from the down
ward rays of the sun; it confers whole
| SOmenesS upon the atmosphere it gives
| SecluSiOn and pleasant GOODNESS to the
| house before which it stands; its
masses of green foliage are grateful to
1
the eye infiamed by the glare Of re-
fected sunlight from the brick walls;
it lets into the apartment whose win
dOws it screens a charming, graduated
light; it takes, without our aid, life
from the air and from the soil, and
builds up silently forms of beauty that
art cannot equal; it charms, indeed, all
the senses with generous dover of
gifts which we cannot too highly
praise.
Too often we are needless in plant
ing trees, and then complain of our
want Of success. We should begin by
selecting those that are adapted to
/ local climatic conditions, and we should
choose only those that are hardy and
have long life; and if, after making a
careful selection, we simply see to it
| that the roots are planted IN deep
and nourishing soil, we need give our
co1I-oC M further concern the tree