10 ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 



here and long afterwards was an impediment to agricultural develop- 

 ment. The pioneer was obliged to clear a space among the trees to 

 make room in which to cultivate his crops, and it is a significant sign 

 of that early condition of things that the coat of- arms of one of our 

 States bears the emblem of a sturdy yeoman with uplifted ax. Under 

 such circumstances, it is no wonder that the people of this country in 

 former time had no very favorable estimate of trees and little apprecia- 

 tion of their value, except for fuel and the supply of timber for house 

 building and certain other uses, or that they were willing that their 

 consumption by the ax should be aided and accelerated by forest fires. 

 Comparatively few persons until a recent period realized the serious 

 inroads which, with a rapidly increasing population, had been made 

 upon our forest resources or apprehended the dangers which were 

 threatening us in the future as the consequences thereof. 



In Europe Mr. Marsh found the Governments of Italy and Germany, as 

 well as those of other countries, making active endeavors and at great 

 expense to rehabilitate their forests which had been depleted centuries 

 before, to guard them from depredation and, instead of leaving them to 

 be consumed at the bidding of personal greed or recklessness, cherish- 

 ing them as among their most precious possessions. He found the 

 forests regarded as the most valuable crop which the ground can pro- 

 duce, and every effort made to stimulate their growth to the utmost. He 

 found schools, of a grade corresponding to our colleges, established for 

 the special purpose of training men for the successful planting and cul- 

 tivation of forests. He found the growth of trees in masses and their 

 maintenance reduced to a science and the management of the wood- 

 lauds constituting one of the most important departments of state. 



Such discoveries were well calculated to fix his attention upon the 

 very different condition of the forests in his own country, and to con- 

 vince him that the reckless destruction of them then going on here, if 

 not checked, would bring upon this land the same calamities which had 

 befallen countries of the Old World in past centuries, and from which 

 only the most enlightened nations of Europe are now recovering through 

 the arduous efforts of many decades, and at great pecuniary cost. The 

 result of Mr. Marsh's observations was the publication of a volume 

 entitled "The Earth and Man, 77 and that admirable chapter in it on "The 

 woods," to which, more than to any other source perhaps, we are indebted 

 for the awakening of attention here to our destructive treatment of the 

 forests, and the necessity of adopting a different course if we would 

 avert most serious consequences, threatening more than anything else, 

 possibly, our material welfare. 



Other thoughtful and observing men at home became aware from 

 time to time that we were wasting our tree heritage, and in one way or 

 another they were urging the necessity of caution and economy in the 

 treatment of the forests. It is remarkable, indeed, that as early as the 

 colonial period some of our States New Hampshire and New York, for 



