The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-04-01
HONDA APRIL 1. 1912.
TRI:E: PLANTING IN NORTH
DAKOTA.

The Times has never WaXed en-
thusiastic over the stntinlcntalities OF
Arbor day. AT The same time VT have
been an enthusiastic advocate OF tree
pla nting in North Dakota. We have
lnoked more at the unitarian than
the poetic results, and in consequence.
our theories have been practical rath-
or than sentimental. Arbor day proc
lamations wen grow irksome when
the commonplace ~platitutdes arc re-
peated year after year as has been
the recent experience of this state.
Hut the utility and beauty of timber
on the prairies will never become irk-
some.
The Times WAS the first paper in
the state to suggest and advocate the
planting of trees for ~windbrakes for
railroads and highways. Since that
time the scheme has received such
attention that President Worst OF the
agricultural college has suggested,
even urged. the planting of rows of
trees on every section line in the
state. This plan would almost de-
istroy the effect Of heavy winter
storms by serving as a check on the
force Of the wind. The scheme is the
practical side of tree planting and
tappeals more i~ntelligently to the peo-
pie.
1t is all we'll and good to plant
a tree on a college campus. and have
the planting set in a ceremony of
poetry, music and oratory. and the
tree named in honor of some one who
has written his name worthily on the
scroll OF fame. The tree ecomes a
monument to his worth-more living
than one chiseled in marble or ham,
mered in bronze. Such trees have n
poetical effect that gives the plant
ing ceremony a significance equal
with that of the laying of a corner
stone or the dedication of a structure.
For them the lArbor day proclama-
lions and ceremonies have a meaning
altogether different from that which
marks the planting of n grove or a
line Of trees in North Dakota.
We do not mean to belittle the
beauty of groves and trees TO tho en-
hancenent Of their utility. Fortu-
natcly, both blend into one. On the
prairie. whore the eye sees only the
great stretch of level, a grove or even
n single tree relieves the monotony
and enhances the beauty. The farm
VI IlpSc oiIl 10 U VI 81
grove can add far more than tho cost
of such grove to the value of his
land and realize on it if h should
SIN. Not only do such grove have
an. aesthetic value, but they have a
practical one also. They protect from
storms in winter both AS windbrakes
and as snow fences and in summer
thu. shade furnishes a delightful re-
treat for rest and comfort.
But with all this. the observation
Of .Nrbor clay has little to do. Trees
i'm this state should be planted in tho
early winter if large. and certainly
more than one day should be devoted
tn the work at any time. The plant
ing should be sensible, not sentiment
tai. For that reason. the suggestion
of President Worst. while impossible
of Hn early realization. should he Civ
on serious attention. His plan is com
p~rchensive, and vet simple if each
unit in the plan does his part. Tbs
meridian road has been planned from
the gulf TO Winnipeg by merely join
ing a number of units into a con-
tinuous whole. This method if fol-
lowed, would produce the result
sought by President Worst. If two
or three farmers planted their section
lines with trees. leaving gaps between,
1T would not be long before the own.
ers Of the gaps would catch the spirit
and the line would be completed. II
one farmer planted his line. it would
not be long until 1t would be Joined
on either side. and so the lines OF
trees would gradually stretch across
the state, making the rich p~rairies a
paradise of horticultural beauty.
That scheme is greater and more
sensible than Arbor day poetry and
oratory: it is practical and construc-
tive. Let's have a Worst day e
year to take the place Of Arbor day
and urge his plan rather than the ole
one.