The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-07-08
Value of Tree Planting.
Profit as Well as Health and Beauty, Assur-
ed by Science.

take in everyday life and how necessary
they are to the happiness of the world, :"
said Robert j. Hayden of the public
grounds department of Boston in recent
talk before the South Boston council,
Knights of Columbus, at stsIuarters in
Bethesda hall building, South Boston.
''Can you imagine the condition OF
things if every tree was swept from the
face of the earth?" he continued.
''Chaos would reign, every home would
be destroyed and the people could not
live."
Mr.. Hayden, chancellor of the council,
has made a life study of forestry, has
taken course in Harvard and special
course of four years at Yale. He is one
of the best-informed foresters in Massa-
chusetts and has much valuable inform
alton regarding the growth of forests,
which is quite important at this time
when efforts are made by the national
government for the preservation of the
forests and the more extensive planting
of trees.
INFLUENCE ON FARMING.
1.-The object of forestry" said Mr..
Hayden, is to discover and apply prin-
ciples according to which forests are best
managed. 1t has to do with single trees
only as they stand together on some large
area and thereby form forest. The
forest is the most highly organized por-
ton of the vegetable world and is much
more than collection of trees. 1t has a
population of animals and plants peculiar
to itself, soil largely of its own making
and climate different from that In the
open country.
.'The influence of trees upon the
streams alone makes farming possible in
many regions and everywhere it tends to
prevent floods and drouths, supplies fuel
and lumber No other human agency
perhaps has done so much for the human
race and has been so little understood
and recklessly used.
"a tree is a woody plant, growing up
from the ground, usually with single
stem. 1t consists of three parts: the
roots, which extend into the ground; the
trunk, which supports the crown and
supplies it with mineral food and water
from the roots, and the crown itself,
with it's network Of branches, buds and
leaves, in which the food, taken up by
the tree from the soil and air, is made to
assist in the growth of the plant. The
crown has more to do with the life OF the
tree than its other parts.
NUTRITION OF THE TREES.
1.-The materials upon which tree
feeds are derived from the soil and air.
The minute root hairs which spring from
the rootlets take up water from the
ground and with it various substances
which itholds in solution. These are earthly
constituents of the tree. The water,
which contains these materials, goes
straight from the roots to the leaves,
which is most important part OF the
feeding of the tree.
wood is chiefly made up of carbon,
oxygen and hydrogen. Trees take IN
oxygen from the air, through their leaves,
and through the minute openings in the
bark. All plants, like animals, breathe
in oxygen and breathe out carbonlc acid
gases.
''In order that fresh supplies of earthly
constituents in solution may reach the
leaves rapidly, the water already in them
must be exuded. This is effected by
Transportation, which is the evaporation
of water from all parts of the tree above
the ground, but principally from the
leaves.
"When growth begins in the spring
and the fresh leaves and twigs bud out
there is a great demand for water in the
crown to supply these moist new parts OF
the tree Water rises in most trees
through the new layers of wood and es-
pecially through the last ring, that is, OF
the annual rims which form. Con-
sequently at first the tree makes thin
walled cells with wide openings, through
which water can rise rapidly to the ends
of the branches.
.'Later on, when the demand for water
is not so great, and there is plenty of
digested food to provide building ma
terial the cells formed are narrow and
thick walled. Thus the summer wood in
each years growth is heavier, stronger
and darker in color than the spring wood.
PROFIT IN FORESTS.
I'VE are using the products of our
forests faster than they are fully grow
ing. This can be avoided. Right here
in Massachusetts we have abandoned
farms which could be cultivated and with
much profit, by growing wood; There are
also waste, sandy areas and mountain
places that are unfit for agriculture
which could be improved by the planting
of trees, not only to conserve the mois-
ture, butte fXate the shifting sands.
Every man looks to the future and
prepares for it. He is jealous for the
welfare of his family and is DESTROYS of
leaving something for them. Why not
leave growing trees? A farm planted
with white pine is fit for market in Is
years and brings big money.
Where the mountain side has been
made barren it is because the forests
have been cut down. Reforest the noun
tain side and you will produce water.
Without forests you cannot have agricul-
tural land.
Look at the part played by forests
in our bodily health. Do you know that
the forest trees are constantly pouring
into the air great quantities of oxygen,
and do you know that they take from
the air the things that would be poison
GUS to us? They purify the air for US.
TREE LIFE IN THE CITY.
1--WE have here in Boston many parks
and squares given principally to tree
culture. Do the people fully appreciate
what the trees are doing for them? DR..
Leavitt, botanic instructor of Harvard,
says ''the atmosphere nomally contains
.04 of percent Of carbonic acid gas by
weight" By the aid of assimilation the
carbon is retained and the oxygen is set
free. This office is the publication of
the air, which should be an encourage
ment to our citizens to plant and see that
our trees are assiduously cared for.
''We have in South Boston one Of the
finest streets Of our city-Broadway.
Yet it is practically devoid of trees, and