The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-01-05


The esnsi.s sssisfAcsson which This work
| Must Inspire.
We have long wondered that ownefs
Of land In considerable tracts. with.
spaces of course that are left unoccu-
pied because they were Improbable
for cultivation, did not resort almost
instinctively to the practice of planting
trees. A tree is perpetual delight.
both in its sapling youth and its shad-
ing maturity. No occupation out of
doors could carry with it so much gen.
uine satisfaction, or generate more
healthy sympathy. than that of tree
planting. What SCOTS old Laird en-
Joined SO thriftily on Jock may with
equal impressiyeness and force be
enjoined on every man who owns an
acre Of waste land, or indeed of any
other One may say there are two
sides to the case, the sentimental and
the practical; but a very brief pursuit
of the practical idea will induct with
marvellous Inconsistencies into the
inner sentiment of il. No sooner does
a man begin 10 grow trees for profit
than he begins TO love them for them
selves. Whatever the reason for it,
the sentiment is ineradicable in the
heart of beings.
Therefore, leaving the sentiment to
| take care of itself, AZ it unqucstionably
will, the question of advantage il the
only one to which we need address our
selves, thus greatly simplifying the
whole subject. There il the con-
sideratiOn of rainfalls, not by any
means as yet, however, determined BY
the acknowledged tests of scientific
theory. There Is also the consideration
of shelter from the Tuder winds, snow
bearing i'm winter, that are the inevita-
BILE companions of the conditions i'm
posed by the latitude of the American
continent, and especially of the north
ern portion of il. There is the further
consideration of the increasing uses of
wood in all human industries, involving
a quick and constant demand for kinds
which in past years have been over
looked and neglected. And, throwing
the question of fuel more and more out
of account, there is the final cOnsidera-
ton of grateful shade for man and
creature, of valuable ernamentatiOn to
an estate and of heightened pictur-
esqueness and beauty TO landscape.
The foregoing are the heads under
which the revived subject of forestry is
at present being treated by both prscti-
cal planters and amateurs. Each of
them is important, but, as In all other
cases, that which comes nearest to the
individual. in pocket and heart both, is
most important of all. And therefore
that is the branch of the subject to ham
should advocate syfrass farDstisg every
where as supplemental to the other;
as its framework and exterior; as Civ
ing expression to its real character; as
adding to the value a. well as the
beauty of every mans farm; as
hiding bare and unsightly places,
filling up the rude gaps and
rents made by time, generating a
! new love for the paternal acres, and
making paradises where forbidding
loneliness now broodS over fields of
desolation. All this, too, at no cost to
speak of; ut the most, at SO small COM
parative cost IS to raise universal won
der that what can be done so easily
very few think of doing at all. The
mechanic will labor assiduOusly to per-
feet his work, while the farmer is con-
tent to leave his work undone.
Our own conviction is that if land
owners, large and small, can but be
excited to view the matter on its
aesthetic side, If they will allow the ex-
preston, the other side will not fail to
take care Of itself. We would there
fore appeal to their instructive love Of
beauty, and trust to human nature to
look beyond that for the profit. Ger
tainly no farm was ever worth less for
being well equipped with shade and
forest trees; and If it can be called
handsomer farm for such q reason,
does its envied owner protest? Trees
are mans companions. A man in the
country, or beyond the town, will
naturally live more years, because he
will do it alphabetically, for watch
ing the growth Of the trees he has
planted and waiting to see them come
TO maturity. Man and tree will both
become slow growers, and thus longer
lived. In the dearth of recreative
pursuits in an age of steam and cleo
tricity and unrest, there could not be
pointed ont happier alternative from
their dire effects on human nerves and
natures than the peaceful, pastoral &C.
cupation. of tree-planting, and the
soothing satisfaction it brings in its
train.-MdSSdchuSety PlOUghmdn.