17 MARCH 1933, Page 18

The tree is becoming a sort of Masonic bond both

psycho- logically and practically ; and not the least sentimental votaries are the Americans of the West who are "Druids of the Sequoia,"- which we vulgarly call the Wellingtonia ; and Mr. St. Barbe Baker's Grove will include this giant, which is, I hear, being planted in New Zealand, where it grows at an astounding speed. The organization known as the Men of the Trees are exerting their influence all over the world. For example, that bright little quarterly, The Tree Laver, records the provision of grants for the planting of roadside trees along "the Palestine Front," that is, along the Sea of Galilee on the road to Tiberias and along the Jerusalem-Ramallah road. The annual ceremony of tree-planting by children also begins to flourish in Palestine. Some years ago a com- mission was sent over to Rothamsted (and thereafter Sir John Russell went over to Palestine) to inquire why "rivers of oil and wine" refused to "flow as the Book assures," and some part of the reason was discovered. But nothing, per- haps, would do more to restore fertility—and beauty—than the multiplication of trees.