Devils Lake weekly world., 1912-04-05
TREE PLANTING IN NORTH
DAKOTA.

iastic over the sentimentalities of Ar
Dor day. At the same time we have
been an enthusiastic advocate of tree
planting in North Dakota. We have
looked more at the utilitarian than the
poetic results and in consequence, our
theories have been pratical rather than
sentimental. Arbor day proclamations
even grow irksome when the common.
place platltudes are repeated year af-
ter year, as has been the recent expert
ence of this state But the utility and
beatuy of timber on the prairie will
never become irksome.
The Times was the first paper in the
state ito suggest and advocate the
planting of trees for windbreaks for
railroads and highways. Since that
time the scheme has received such at
tention 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 destroy the
effect of heavy winter storms by serv-
ing as check on the force of the
wind. The scheme is THE practical side
of tree planting and appeals more intel
ligently to the people.
It is all well and good to plant q
tree on 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 scrool of
fame: The tree becomes monument
to his .worth-more living than one
chiseled in marble or hammered in
bronze. Such trees have poetical ef
feet that gives the planting ceremony
ceremony equal with that of the lay
ing Of a corner stone or the dedication
Of a structure. For Them the Arbor
day proclamations and ceremonies have
meaning altogether different from
that which marks the planting of a
grove or a line of trees in North Dako.
ia.
We do not mean ito belittle the beauty
of the groves and trees to the enhance
ment Of their utility. Fortunately
both blend into one. On the prairie,
where the eye sees only the great
stretch Of level, a grove or even sin
gle tree relieves the monotony and en-
hances the beauty. The farmer whose
home is set artistically in grove can
add far more than the cost of such
grove to the value Of his land and real
ize on it if he should sell. Not only do
such groves have an aesthetic value,
but they have practical one also.
They protect from storms in winter
both as windbreaks and as snow fences
and in summer the shade furnishes a
delightful retreat for rest and comfort.
But with al this, the observation Of
Arbor day has little to do. Trees in
this state should be planted in the early
winter, if large, and certainly more
than one day should be devoted to the
work at any time. The planting should
be sensible, not sentimental. For that
reason, the suggestion of President
Worst, while impossible Of an early
realization, should be given serious at
tention. His plan is comprehensive,
and yet simple if each unit in the plan
| does his part. The meridian road has
been planned from the gulf to Winni-
peg by merely joining number OF
units into a continuous whole. This
method, if followed, would produce the
result sought by President Worst. II
two or three farmers planted their Sec
tion lines with trees, leaving gaps be-
tween, it would not be long before the
owners of the gaps would catch the
spirit and the line would be completed.
If one farmer planted his line, it would
not long until it would be joined on
either side, and so the lines Of trees
would gradually stretch across the
state, making the rich prairies para
disc of horticultural beauty.
| That scheme is greater and more
sensible that Arbor day poetry and or
atory; it is practical and constructive.
Let's have Worst day next year to
take the place of Arbor day and urge
his plan rather than the old one
Grand Forks Times.
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BLAME THE FOOD, NOT THE. AP.
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