Connecticut western news., 1881-10-19
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT.
Showing That There may be Too Many Trees as Often as Too Few.

B. O. Gardner, in the Springfield Republican, gives the following little story: ..
 John has been to see me. He has just been set to rule over a village inn provement society and came to me for advice. Being in generous Christian frame of mind I gave freely. .....
 II suppose we must plant trees, make roads, lay out parks and all that sort of thing, but the truth is," said he, 'T was elected because don't know anything about it-haven't any principles or prejudices to bother-so you must tell me where to begin and I will try to go ahead" ...s .-....., ....... .....-. .....
 Certainly you will plant trees, but advise you to begin by grinding your ax. Not officially, but literally. My text, is Spoil the trees and spare the town There is no occasion when the average-pardon me, mean the su- ,perior-New England mind is so apt to be dangerously insane, as when it is, so to speak, up tree. Planting 8 double row of rock naples and elms along both sides of every street in the village and suburb is the grand test of orthodoxy as regards public spirit and fine sense of outdoor beauty. I know that trout brooks are drying up, the climate chang ing and the Chill towns" going to rack and ruin because the forests are being turned into wood piles and railroad ties; know we are in danger of becom- ing a dreary desert like the plains of Bagdad or worn out moon; yet after all that I beg you to begin cutting and thinning out, rather than planting more trees where they do not belong. D
 "What a dreadful doctrine P said John, holding up his hands in holy horror. Do you really mean it '? Would you have us destroy in an hour what it has taken the Almighty hun dred years to create ?"
 "By all means, if it happens to stand in our way, if it has outlived it's useful ness and cumbers the ground, as it surely has and does with human health and happiness"
 | ''Is there any more beautiful object in nature," continued John, waxing eloquent, "than grand old tree bid | ding defiance to the elements and hold ing it's mighty arms beseechingly toward l heaven"
 "Yes, heaven itself; the sky, the stars, the glorious sunlight! These are thousand times more beautiful, and the tree itself is most beautiful when il stands at respectful distance, when it blends with the view of the shining river and the everlasting hills, being itself a part of the landscape. not an impenetra- ble curtain before it. But you will find hosts of people in your new society whose appreciation of natural beauty never rises higher than the top of big elm. No, sir, it is a solemn fact that ir many of the old village streets and the older parts of such city, for instance as Springfield, the first duty of the i'm provement societies is to cut down anG drag out one-half the trees already growing. If you object to that, I vii say three-fourths. There are two things that no man, woman or child can live without-light and air. Forty day. without food has been demonstrated a1 a delightful possibility for tramps ant other useless people. Total abstinence | proves the needlessness of fluid snour ishment;' but dark dungeon or <, sealed cabinet would put an end to thu stoutest of us long before hunger O thirst would cause any serious discom fort"
 "And on that account you advise u to cut down all the trees and live in th, brolling sun, do you?" ao .,.-
 Don't be stupid. There's a saf middle course. If request you not t, talk necessarily, am not advising yo, to be forever dumb. We might at leas infer something of the value, actual an, relative, of these two clements, air an, sunshine, and understand that whateve diminishes the quantity or impairs tn quality of either is sure to make us sui fer. Certainly it is great calamity t any country to be deprived of its for ests, but that is not a good reason fo living in dampness and shadow. Yo1