"While the conscious experience of interspecies friendship is usually limited to a household pet — usually a dog or cat — a growing number of people are opening themselves to the possibility of enjoying a close friendship with individual trees. The prominent American tree culturist P.G. Cross addressed this issue nearly sixty years ago:

" 'If you would live life in all its richness, then make friends with your trees, your neighbor's trees, the trees of the hillside, and the highway. To form such a friendship means serenity of being, better health, and above all, lasting happiness. No tree ever proves to be a false friend.'

"There are a wide variety of pleasurable activities that can bring us closer to trees. Visiting their natural habitats, carefully observing them, taking photographs of or drawing them, speaking to trees, relaxing in their shade, listening to their moving branches or the rustling of their leaves, touching or hugging trees, and meditating under their boughs are but several such activities that come to mind."