DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 181 



the time of proving np, in order to give title to the whole. According 

 to the rejjort of the General Land Office, the lands taken under this act 

 at present comprise 30,998,855.52 acres, of which 652,001.49 have been 

 finally entered for proof or have i^assed into the hands of settlers. 

 According to the law, four years were allowed for the final planting 

 of the quarter-section. There should, therefore, be found planted to 

 forest at least one-quarter of the entries made up to 1882, or 4,414,289 

 acres. But as the time for holding lands entered under this act, as 

 against other comers, "may run for thirteen years," and commuta- 

 tion to other classes of entry or relinquishment (for valuable consid- 

 eration) is not prevented, this result is far from having been accom- 

 plished. The proportion of entries made under this act without 

 securing the intended result of its provisions has been estimated by 

 the Commissioner of the General Land Office at 90 per cent. The 

 organic faults of the act have been indicated from the standpoint of 

 a forester, in the report on Western tree planting. 



ARBOR DAY. 



Among the encouragements of forestry the establishment of what 

 is known as Arbor Day deserves to be mentioned. 



The credit of the inauguration of a day specially devoted to tree 

 planting, from which it takes its name, belongs to Nebraska, in 

 which State, by a resolution of the State Board of Agriculture, in 

 January, 1874, the second Wednesday of April in each year was 

 dedicated to the work of planting trees. The resolution was wel- 

 comed by the people of the State, and as a result it has been claimed 

 that on the first Arbor Day, and during the year 1874, more than 

 12,000,000 trees were planted, and that there are now 100,000 acres of 

 planted forest in the State. 



The example of Nebraska was quickly followed, especially by those 

 States most lacking forest growth. In Iowa, Arbor Day was adopted 

 in 1874 by the State Horticultural Society. Since then it has been 

 established by legislative enactment. In Michigan the governor pro- 

 claimed Arbor Day in 1876 ; and in 1881 it was formally established 

 by the legislature. In Minnesota it was proclaimed by the State For- 

 estry Association in 1876, and 1,500,000 trees were reported as planted 

 that year. The day is now established by law. In Ohio, Arbor Day 

 was established in 1882 by the legislature. In West Virginia it was 

 extensively adopted in 1883, under the lead of Hon. B. L. Butcher, 

 superintendent of public schools. In accordance with an act of the 

 legislature, it was proclaimed in New Jersey in 1885. It was adopted 

 the same year in Massachusetts and New Hampshire by the action 

 of the State Granges of the Patrons of Husbandry, and has been 

 adopted more recently by the legislatures of these States. In 1886 it 

 was adopted by New York, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Florida. It has been adopted also in Vermont, Geor- 

 gia, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Indiana. 



Recently the scope of Arbor Day has been widened and its interest 

 increased by engaging the pupils of the public schools in its observ- 

 ance. The way has thus been opened for getting the facts relating 

 to tree-growth and the practical uses of trees before the minds of old 

 and young alike, and for creating and diffusing through the com- 

 munity a sentiment which promises much good to the cause of for- 

 estry. It is this educational asjDect which makes Arbor Day a specially 

 desirable means of forestry reform. 



