Norwich bulletin., 1913-11-01
THE VANISHING FILMS
 OF NEW ENGLAND.
Rufus Bradford Burnham's Timely md We'll Written Article in Country fife

The current number of Country Life in America contains d tWo-page Illus trated paper upon this subject from the pen of Rufus Bradford Burnham, son of Waterman R. Burnham, of this city.
 We make few quotations from this timely and well written paper. The author says:
 Few of our citizens are far sighted enough to see that they really have in their elms a beauty treasure impossi- ble to duplicate in the short span of their lives, if indeed at ali. They form an asset that many towns which are without them would go far to Se- cure if they could do so. Ask the Ari- Zonian, the Dakotan or even the Cali fornian what he would give to have his home streets danked the tall and stately trunks of New England's tree. We protect the scenic wonders of our west by making national parks of them but we leave 10 the tender mercies of a thoughtless and unskilled populace the rich heritages bequeathed them by their more discerning fOrefathers, the grand old elms of New England which Westerners and foreigners alike raise their hats to and regard with the same wonder, the same awe, the same reverence, with which they behold a Grand Canon or Yosemite.
 Today lack of foresight and gen. eral indolence regarding this important matter is painfully prevalent One New England city recently spent $1, 200 in cutting down it's elm beauties and less than $o00 in trying to save them. In the same city a few years ago, practically every elm for a mile and a half on the most prominent residential street of the place died from the ef- fleets of a leaky gas main, having first been weakened and devitaliZed by re- peated unchecked scourgeS of the elm tree beetle. In many other localities
 I'd fg
 "rhe pathetic side Of the passing of the elms is the needlessness of their disappearance, or at least the fact that with the proper care which is their due the inevitable death which must of course ultimately befall them may be postponed for Iong-for very long. The natural age of the elm is anywhere from 200 to 800 years. while there are individual trees scattered about in towns and villages which are much older than that. With the unfavor- able conditions that most of the trees in the larger towns and cities have been compelled to struggle under 1t is remarkable that the delicate organisms have been able to breathe as long as they haye.'
 There gre several views of Norwich elrns maQe by William Leighton, one of which is of the Colt e!ms or thls city, which were immortalized by pr. Holmes.
 MT. Burnham speaks for the most enlightened people of New England when he says:
 Heroic measures must be taken, and that right speedily. throughout all her six states if she would preserve and perpetuate for posterity this crowning glory of her cities, towns and villages. To prevent such a calamity, expense and labor should count for little. The grand old elms which still stand, many of them loved by our grandfathers and some of them by their grandfathers, should be tenderly cared for and pro- teeted but also new elms should be set ont in abundance-here, there, ev- anywhere"
 There should be an organized effort in Norwich to plant young elns from year to year that this feature of our scenery may be continued down the ages.