ble and also
palatable to most people, but their chief food value today, is to
provide rich provender to domestic animals and birds, or the desirable
wild life of the woodlands, all of which devour them eagerly, adding
quickly to their weight and greatly to their quality and flavor of their
flesh. I refer to the three magnificent oaks producing sweet acorns,
viz., the White Oak (_Quercus albaq_), the Bur Oak (_Quercus
macrocarpa_) and the Swamp White Oak (_Quercus plantanoides_). They are
all emblematic of great strength and grandeur, reaching the majestic
height of 100 feet, with trunks four or five feet in diameter; the leaf
coloring at times is indescribably beautiful and the timber owing to its
great solidity and strength is of the utmost value.

Last, but not least, the American beech, with a three or four foot trunk
and almost 100 feet in height, distinct and beautiful, will demand the
attention of those who plant our highways. Its nuts, feasted upon by
many forest denizens, may be classed with the sweet acorns heretofore
referred to, but the tree has a grace and charm all its own and it
thrives from the warm waters of the Gulf to the icy shores of Lake
Superior.

At this time we cannot recommend what has been a noble, almost
fascinating tree, 100 feet its usual height and sometimes spreading 100
feet almost in extent, with a trunk that in some cases reached a
diameter of 10 feet, with clusters of golden catkins fragrant in
midsummer, resulting in great quantities of delicious nuts in autumn.
Such was the chestnut, _Castanea dentata_, of the past, the fate of
which, and almost extinction, has been a tragedy in the ranks of our
native trees that has brought bitter regrets to all lovers of this
partician of the forest. Good news comes from the far East, however, to
the effect that some specimens of this famous tree have escaped or
proven immune to the blight, and if the latter, it means the saving of
the species and its replanting in soil and territory where it may thrive
as of yore.

Having now enumerated the varieties of trees that should be selected in
the main for the planting of highways and in public places, the question
now arises as to the best method of carrying on the work in a practical
way throughout the country.

Individuals or small communities certainly can not be depended upon to
do it, as the result would be of a patchwork character that would not be
pleasing to the eye or beneficial in its res