Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-05-05
Let us Plant Trees.

Shall we plod along year after year in the
same old ruts, and by and by pass away and
leave nothing behind us to testify to those
who shall come after us that we once had
being
Shall we spend our whole lives for our
own selfish ends seeking our own present
interests, with no thought of old age, or Of
those things which shall give US pleasure and
enjoyment in our declining years Or shall we
pause in our | aste to get gain, and snatch
one day from the calendar, and devote it to
the planting Of trees aud shrubbery to deco.
rate and beautify our homes. and render them
more attractive to our children as they grow
up, and moro enjoyable to ourselves and
those around us, aud leave them as a testi-
mony to those who may come after US, not
only that we lived, but that we lived not
wholly to ourselves ?
AS we, and our children, reach forth our
hands aud pluck fruit from the few remain.
ing trees which our fathers planted with so
much care, do not our hearts 90 out in graf
itude to those hard working settlers for their
unselfsh painstaking in planting trees, from
which they hardly hoped to pluck fruit in
their day, but which now blossom and bear
fruit for our benefit and our enjoyment All
praise to those unse6sh and Industrious ear
ly settlers, who planted for others to harvest,
who sowed for others to garner
Let u.s. as Patrons of Husbandry, initiate
their unselfshuess, and their prOvident care
for the wants of their posterity, by devoting
one day in each year to the planting OF fruit,
or ornamental trees so long as our noble
order shall have an existence, or until every
farm shall have an orchard within its bounds
until every front-yard shall be beautifod
with shrubbery, either useful or ornamental,
and every avenue aud roadside shall be
dotted with fruit trees.
Let no Patron say, 81 have no land to
spare for an orchard" Have you no walls
or fences around or upon your premises? If
so, plant trees beside those walls and fences,
There is no place where an apple tree
will flourish better than in such localities,
Their roots are protected from the scorching
rays of the sun. and the earth is loose and
light, aud always well muohed, and where
the pillow, or the harrow, or the moving
machine "goeth not" to disturb.
Neither let any one say" al own no farm. y
Is there no highway that passes your dwell
ing? II so, 90 out and plant fruit trees be-
side it. Line it with apple, plum, or cherry
trees, aud in few years you will not only
have fruit for yourselves and your posterity
but fruit will be so plentiful that he that runs
may-eat.
There are in this state, probably over
5000 male members Of our order. Should
each male member plant even one apple
tree this spring, there would be an increase
of at least 5000 trees in the state. And
should the Patrons continue this work each
succeeding May for the next ten years, there
would be an increase Of sixty thousand fruit
trees (offsetting the probable increase in mem
bership against the natural failure of trees. J
At the end of ten years the trees planted
this spring would be dropping their golden
fruit into the lap of the husbandmani while
his delighted children would not only "rist
up and call him blessed" but would actually
sing for JOY
What good Patron then will fail to plan
one tree now2
but" says another, 81 cannot spare thu
ground" IT you cannot spare the room in
your fields, then, repeat, plant beside tn,
highway. There are, in this town, owe
eighty miles of travelled road-mostly through
{ cleared fields, and generally well fenced
Let us suppose that even oue.half Of that il
suitable for the production of apples. Fort,
miles of road equal 25,G00 rods of roadside
upon which, at least, 10000 apple tree
might easily be planted. And what is trut
of this town, is also true Of the majority o
the towns in this state.
Others may say, III l should plant tree
! beside the highway the boys would steal al
+ my fruit" No better argument could b
adduced in favor OF roadside tres-panting
If apples are such luxury and are so con
ducive to health and enjoyment as to temp
men and boys to break the eighth command
, ment, they certainly should be so general
and so profusoly cultivated as to make it nc
longer an object for "thieves to break througI
, aud steal"
, There are few people who do not relis
good ripe apples, while all acknowledg
their nOurishing and health-giving proper
ties. Then let us each plant fruit tire
and do it at once. l.. b. SuERwIN.
Hydspark, IBrii, 1876,