FORESTRY. 193 
it would take the entire tonnage of the world to convey the amount of 
timber annually consumed in the United States from any foreign lumber 
port,—I say, with these figures before them, some may think it: savors 
somewhat of the ludicrous to talk of Arbor Day as an instrument for 
checking the destruction of our forests or making amends for their loss 
by planting new ones. 
But the use and value of Arbor Day do not consist in the number of 
trees which may be planted on a single day of the round year by these 
voluntary tree planters, whether adults or school children, but in the 
sentiment, the feeling which they serve to create. We have been a na- 
tion of tree destroyers, at first, necessarily such in many parts of the coun- 
try, because the trees were so abundant that they had to be removed to 
make room for agricultural pursuits; afterwards, our rapidly increasing 
population, calling for the products of manufacture, and spreading west- 
ward-to the prairies and plains destitute of trees, made a large demand 
upon the existing forests for lumber. The profitableness of the lumber 
industry has often produced a supply outrunning demand, while reckless 
and improvident methods of lumbering have made a fearful waste of the 
forest wealth. Thus trees have, in the past, been looked upon as things 
in the way, and so to be got rid of in the most speedy manner, or as good 
for so much money, and so to be gotten into the market as soon as possi- 
ble. The ulterior and higher uses of trees were for the most part un- 
known and of course unthought of. Now that their climatic effects are 
known, their influence upon the distribution of the rain fall and the flow 
of water courses,and their various beneficial effects upon human industry, - 
and human health and comfort—what is wanted is the diffusion of this 
knowledge and some public recognition of it, which shall teach by exam- 
ple,and create what may be called a tree sentiment or feeling,which shall 
take the place of the indifference and ignorance,which have so long pre_ 
vailed among us, and lead us to be tree-preservers instead of tree-destroy- 
ers, as we have been. 
In this view of the matter, Arbor Day has an important place, and its 
observance deserves to be encouraged everywhere among us. Especially 
is this the case since its observance has been so generally connected with 
the schools. There is a proverb current in Europe to the effect, that 
what you would have appear in the nation’s life must first be made to ap- 
pear in the nation’s schools. Acting upon this, several of the European 
nations make the study of trees and tree culture a necessary part of the 
studies of the school room, and they provide grounds in connection with 
the schools, sufficiently large to allow of the planting of trees and their 
cultivation by the pupils, under the instruction of the teachers, whose 
ability to give instruction of this sort is made a necessary qualification for 
the charge of a school. We ought to have a similar instruction in our 
schools, as has recently been recommended by the American Forestry 
Association at its annual meeting in Washington. The elements of tree 
growth should be taught in the common schools. The pupils should here 
learn to distinguish readily the trees that grow within their sight. This 
even quite young children will do with a little help from a competent 
teacher, and it will surprise many persons of mature years to see with 
how much interest the children will pursue the study of trees. They will 
not only study them in the school room or on the school grounds or in 
ake 
