ARBOR DAY

Yes! Today is Arbor Day in New York State! And our environmental conservation friends tell us it's a good day to plant a tree.

The state's Department of Environmental Conservation says the holiday, first celebrated in 1872, was created to encourage farmers and settlers to plant trees for shade and lumber. For us today, it's a good time to help our environment by adding to the tree population.

And it's also a good time to look at some of the Bullis "tree books" to get ideas about the kind to plant as well as how to identify and care for those that may be currently growing in and around our neighborhoods.

So we invite you to stop by the Bullis Room and look through some of these "oldie but goody" books. And then, we can all get out our shovels, dig a hole, and plant a tree.

Here's a list of some of the "tree books" you can find in the Bullis Room:

Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them

Author: Harriet Louise Keeler

Publisher: C. Scribner Sons, 1900

A Guide to Trees

Author: Alice Lounsberry

Publisher: F. A. Stokes, 1900

What May Be Learned From a Tree

Author: Harland Coultas

Publisher: Appleton, 1860

Handbook of the Trees of the Northern States and Canada, 

East of the Rocky Mountains

Author: Romeyn Beck

Publisher: R.B. Hough, 1924, C1907

Familiar Trees and Their Leaves, Described and Illustrated

Author: Ferdinand Schuyler Matthews

Publisher: Appleton, 1911

Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs,  Hardy in North America

Author: Alfred Rehden

Publisher: Macmillan, 1934

Oh - one more thing - a trivia question!  What is New York's state tree?

WHAT MAY BE LEARNED FROM A TREE

Since today is Arbor Day, we scrolled through the collection's data base for books on trees, and stopped when we saw the entry "What May Be Learned From a Tree."  Wow, what a neat book!  The author, Harland Coultas, copyrighted the book in 1855 and it went into several printings. The Bullis copy was published in 1860 by D. Appleton.

Mr. Coultas began his book with the history of trees and followed up with discussions of tree anatomy, physiology, growth, community, and death.  Interweaved throughout is the author's purpose "...to show that the tree may be regarded as a vast community of phytons, or plants, which co-operate in its construction and are mutually dependent on and subservient to each other." (Introduction, page 11)

He concludes his introduction with, "Reader, whoever you are, may this book prove to you a friend, may you be induced by its pages to look on the Tree with a new interest; and obtaining from its noble form a clear and truthful view of your own position and duty in life, become, by the perusal of this volume, a wiser man and a better citizen." (Introduction, page 12)

Many trees are visible through the Bullis Room window. Some were here long before us and will be here long after we are gone, making their contributions (individually and collectively) to our planet. Let's do what we can to help them live out their purpose.

Note: You can read Mr. Coulas's book online, or here in the Bullis Room.

THE ROBIN

Today is sandwiched in between yesterday's Earth Day and tomorrow's Arbor Day. We celebrate these two occasions by sharing with you Charlie Bullis's poem "written and read Arbor Day, May 4, 1906," when he was 14 years old.

THE ROBIN, by C. R. Bullis

In the bright days of early spring
A robin from the south took wing
Thrilled by memories of the past
He flew to the north straight and fast
Through the pale ethereal blue
Unto his native land he flew
Through the bright day and starlit night
He proceeded in his long flight.
At last all wearied from his flight
As the first rays of the sun's light
Appeared over the eastern hill
At home on a pine he sat still.
For a few weeks he flew about
In every tree and bush and out
And in the balmy evening air
His song resounded clear and fair
And floated up to the pale moon
And died away very much to soon.
His singing soon brought him a mate
And they sang together in state
On a swaying evergreen bough
Never chriping his song enow
Until warmer the day did grow
Melting away the lingering snow
And birds became more numerous
The robins grew less humorous
They worked two or three bright days
And constructed a little maze
Of dry grass interlocked and round
With fine feathers all lined and downed
They constructed their little nest
On a brace high above their pest
The cat that goes prowling around
And catches young birds near the ground
Soon two little blue eggs were laid
In the warm nest all in the shade
In due time the blue eggs were hatched
The robins taking turns to scratch
And sit and search for grubs and slugs
And juicy angle worms and bugs
It was a busy time indeed
With two small gaping mouths to feed
But the robins tended them well
And their forms began to swell
When the sweet hay was being mown
I looked and the young birds had flown.