The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-04-09

and. faces that he hath not seen
shall bless him. Van Dyke.
A crutch would have seemed more
natural than mattock, for the man
was very old and bent and wrinkled,
and his hands trembled even when
he leaned on the mattock handle to
speak to the young man in the road.
Yet he was digging Justify at deep
hole, preparing to plant young
oak
The young man pulled up his
horse at the yard gate. "Grandsire
Green" he said, ut would be natural
for me to plant trees because might
live to enjoy their shade and their
beauty, but you-why don't you goI
enjoy yourself and leave that sort of
hard work to us younger fellows?'
We'll, my boy" replied the old
man, 81 found trees here when II
came into the world more than 8Ol
years ago, and when | go out of the
world I want to leave some trees
here for the people who are to follow
me-
Why should not every man feel the
same way about it? George Peabody
said, Education is a debt due from
the present to future generations.
Trees are just as much so. The
great trees that one stands reverent-|
ly in awe of are not attained Ill al
lifetime. They are creatures of the
centuries. The grandchildren of
our grandchildren can know nothing
of the sublimity and the charm of
the kind that grow in the open UNI
less we plant them.
Observe Arbor Day.
That is one of the things that the,
United States Department of Agri-I
culture has in mind when il says
that no community can afford toI
neglect Arbor Day. But it has a.
great many other things in mind
too. Nothing helps more to beautify
city or town than trees, and few
things so educate the people in pub.
glic spirit and foresight as the care OF
trees.
The celebration of Arbor Day by
the planting of trees, say the depart
ment specialists, is an assumption of
an all-the-year-round responsibility.
There is quite as much need for the
care of trees and shrubs as for actual
planting.
In the past, the planting OF trees
on Arbor Day has usually been. in
school grounds and parks. Recent
~, it has been the means of arousing
interest in roadside paintings, both
in city and country
Some objection has been made to
trees along the roadside on the
ground that they hinder drying out
after wet weather. This holds good
If the road is poorly built; but trees
are actually an aid in keeping well
built road dry, if they are not plant
ed too close. The roots, by constant
ly taking in water, assist in drainage,
and the tops. by breaking the force
of driving rains, prevent washes in
the roadway. The most important
use of trees by the roadside, how
ever, is the prevention of dust. Dust
is the cementing material in macad-
am roads, and if it is loosened and
blown away the breaking up of the
road is fastened.
Hillsides Need Trees.
What the trees do for the roads
they do also for the foreste6 hill
sides. Wherever there are no forests
on the hills and mountains the rain
and melted snow PUSHES. off in tor
rent, digging out great gullies and
carrying away the fertile SOIL
Where there is a forest the trees pro-
tect the soil from the beating of the
rain: the roots lead the water deep
into the ground, to be stored up
there and gradually fec out py
springs all the year round; the leaf
litter absorbs and holds the water
like sponge; the trunks and roots
prevent the rapid run-off of the
water and bind the soil together.
The forest is of tremendous benefit
in preventing both floods and
drought; it is in reality a natural
storer of water. 1t is highly desir-
able. Ditch imperative, therefore.
that the watersheds of navigable
streams and those upon which towns.
cities, irrigation pojects, and water
power plants depend for their supply
should be forested.