ARBOR DAY: HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 



COMMERCIAL VALUE OF TREES. 



Arbor Day has its abundant justification in the 

 surpassing value of trees from whatever point of 

 view they are considered. Their beauty is felt 

 by all. Nothing contributes so much to make the 

 world a pleasant place of abode for man. Just 

 as anyone has the true home feeling and seeks 

 to create a home for himself, he seeks the trees 

 as being an indispensable aid in the accom- 

 plishment of his purpose. He must have the 

 trees around his dwelling place. He must have 

 their shelter and their shade, their beauty of 

 form, of leaf, and blossom, and fruit, their ever- 

 varying aspect with every change of earth and 

 sky, of sunshine and cloud. In short, he must 

 have their companionship in his daily life. But 

 looked at apart from all such feeling and senti- 

 ment, looked at not in their living but in their 

 dead state, looked at as mere lumber or material for man's constructive 

 purposes, for the thousand uses of daily life, the trees have an almost 

 incomparable value. Estimated by their money value alone the prod- 

 ucts of the forest exceed those from almost any other source. 



We speak of the " precious metals," gold and silver; and they are so 

 precious in the esteem of most persons that multitudes are ready to 

 forsake all other occupations and rush in pursuit of them wherever 

 they may be found or there is even a faint hope of finding them. Now 

 we give to the hunters of these precious metals special privileges in 

 the prosecution of their quest such as are not given to people engaged 

 in other employments. It would seem that the mining of gold and sil- 

 ver is the most important interest of the country. It certainly holds a 

 very prominent position in the public estimation. 



But the last report of the Director of the Mint gives the value of the 

 product of the gold and silver mines of the United States for the year 

 1894 as follows: Gold, $39,500,000; silver, $3 1,422,000; total, $70,922,000. 

 At the same time, the most recent and careful estimates of the value of 





