In the poem ‘The Heart of the Tree’ the poet has tried to give a glimpse of how trees are crucial for our lives on earth. According to him, the man who plants a tree also plants many things knowingly or unknowingly. The general benefits that the man brings to the others by planting trees are —

• Energy: Trees are useful to beat the scorching heat of the sun and to transform the light of the sun to glucose through the process of photosynthesis. All the energy for life on earth comes through this way.
• Natural beauty: Trees are crucial for the beautification of the earth with their high ‘shafts’ and flag-like leafy green branches.
• Shade and rain: Trees give us ‘cool shade and tender rain’, thus indirectly helping in agriculture and keeping the earth green.
• Wood: Trees have always played critical roles in a nation’s growth, as it helps us by giving woods for fuel and making furniture and instruments, houses, vehicles, ships etc.
• Oxygen: More importantly, trees supply oxygen and keeps us safe from pollution. In short, without trees, life on earth would not have been possible.

The ecological benefits of plantation:

• Trees make the home for birds and other animals and insects, helping to keep up the ecosystem rolling. Trees make forests and that in turn help the earth in many ways like giving home to animals and bringing rains and prevents desertification. Without trees, the herbivorous animals will be in want of food. That will lead to to a scarcity of food for the carnivorous animals. In this way, the whole ecological balance would be disturbed.
• Trees assure the lives of the next generations, keeping the environment healthy and pollution free.

Social benefit of plantation:

• About the social benefits of plantation, the poet says it is “blessings on the neighbourhood” and it’s a work done from “far-cast thought of civic good”. A man performs his duty towards society by planting a tree. He indirectly or directly helps so many people in many ways to live a better life on earth. Moreover, plantation is a symbolic act of goodness which alone can generate many other acts of goodness. So, the attitude of the entire society would change to a positive and helpful one. It leads to the nation’s growth in the long term. Such is the greatness in planting a tree.