Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-03-12
PLANTING or TREES.
VALUABLE HELP TOWARD rH1
EDUCATION or CHTLDREx
Few schools In which there is Not Little
Ground in which Young Trees May be
Grcwp--A Healthy Recreation and Bens-
hciaI Educational Influence.

Hon. II. @. Jolly in Penn'a School Journal
Some years ago found several young |
oaks growing up among hedge Of rose trees
in our garden. AS there were no oaks in the
immediate vicinity II was rather subject Of
astonishment to me, until found out that
my children had picked up some acorns In
the woods, and had sown them there. Moth
ing could be more simple and trivial, ad-
init nevertheless, 1t set me a-thinking, and
have not done thinking yet The children
were SO young then that ! would not have
credited them with sufficient reason to go
through the process Of looking for seeds In
the woods, sowing them with the purpose OF
producing trees, and watching In the follow
ing spring for the realization Of that purpose.
II struck me then that the growing OF
trees would be valuable beip towards the
education of children. We try TO teach
them to observe, to think, to preserve, and
we have done great deal when we can
| make them see clearly for themselves that
success is the direct result OF labor, and
| when they have learned To associate the two
| in their minds Among all the mental exer-
| cises resorted TO In our schools, can scarce
| ly see one that will secure the same results
more easily and more effectively than the
| culture of trees.
| ought to be none--with SO little ground as
/ not to allow room for at least seed-bed
| and a nursery for young trees. Get the
| children, first of all, to work the ground
until 1t is well drained and sufficiently deep
ened and mellowed for the purpose. There
you combine physical and mental work, and
| an important lesson for the future for II is
matter OF vital Importance that the atten-
ton of the growing generation should be
turned seriously in the direction Of agricul-
tural pursuits; we cannot begin too soon to
impress the youthful mind with the idea that
conscientious care I'm the preparation Of the
soil will be bountifully repaid.
| We have been skimmiDg over the surface
l or ia al ag
less we shall, sooner than we expect, be in
duced to wish, like Alexander the Great, for
other worlds to conquer. We must remem
ber that this is the ground upon which the
children of over sixty millions of people will
have to find food for themselves and their In
creasing families, and millions Of people on
the other side Of the Atlantic, and still make
room for the surplus population OF the Olc
worth, and learn how to get as much as pos
. sibie out of it and the best way to reach th'
people is to teach the children. But this is
DEPRESSION; let us return to our subject
: When they have prepared their grount
carefully, take the children TO the woods L
collect the seed, i'm its season, or buy it II yo,
ate too far from the woods. Teach them L
discriminate between good seed and bad, ant
make them SOW il properly.
Make them study the form and appearance
of the young trees they first come up ou
; Of the ground, so that they will not mistak
them for weeds. Make them keep the groun
| tfee frOtD ali Weeus, lileilOW IL, anu vi
step by step, the growth OF their Seeding
: until they remove them TO the nursery bed
4 | where they will require new care and after
: ton, till ready for final transplaDting.
Their attention Will be fixed, not only ft
o days, but for seasons and years, on the
II Young trees, thereby insuring continuit
n of action. Prices ought TO be awarded, froi
| time to time, to those whose trees are In tf
best condition. When there is no MOI
room, on the school grounds, for transplan
q ing thase trees, the children, on ArbOr Da.
a will have the privilege OF ornamenting u
n streets, squares, walks of their towns an
villages with trees raised and grown wit
their own hands
twill be, all through, healthy recre
10 ton, and, at the same time, II will call in
'e play every quality of mind which is indi
of pensable for success in life. More ths
. that, the best feelings of the human hea
will be nurtured and grow along with tho
w Young trees the love Of nature deep reye
IN ence for the power of God, in watching Il
tY growth of the tree from its seed, in not
- ing the development of it's life. The child
Vi heart will be enlarged as the range Of b
of sympathies widen he will see life ever
10 where--all around hun. He will take plea
10 ure in identifying his school grounds, an
by and by, his fathers homestead he W
~ get attached to it, and, as he grows oldt
81 every tree planted by his hands will becof
,e friend TO him; and when the thought entt
4, | his mind that he may not live TO reap al
)" benefit from his work in growing those tre'
rs he will, at least, learn the greatest of
IT. lessons, that we have not been created
m God 10 work only for ourselves.