50 



ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 



acid is of no use to us directly, iiiid in any but very minute quantities is 

 harmful; but the carbon in it, if it can be separated from the oxygen, is 

 just what the tree and every plant wants. And now the work of separat- 

 ing the carbon from the oxygen is precisely that which is done in the 

 wonderful laboratory of the leaf. Under the magic touch of the sun, the 

 carbonic acid of the atmosphere, which has entered the leaf through the 

 breathing pores or stomates and is circulating through the air-passages 

 and cells, is decomposed, that is, taken to pieces; the oxygen is poured 

 out into the air along with the watery vapor of the crude sap, while the 

 carbon is combined with the elements of water and other substances 

 which we have mentioned, to form the elaborated sap or plant material 

 which is now ready to be carried from the leaves to all parts of the plant 

 or tree, to nourish it and continue its growth. Such is the important 

 and wonderful work of the leaf, the tender, delicate leaf, which we 

 crumple so easily in our fingers. It builds up, atom by atom, the tree 

 and the great forests which beautify the world and provide for us a 

 thousand comforts and conveniences. Our houses and the furniture in 

 them, our boats and ships, the cars in which we fly so swiftly, the many 

 beautiful and u'seful things which are manufactured from wood of var- 

 ious kinds, all these, by the help of the sun, are furnished us by the tiny 

 leaves of the trees. 



THE BEST USE OF ARBOR DAY. 



Arbor Day to be most useful, as well 

 as most pleasant, should not stand by 

 itself, alone, but be connected with much 

 study and talk of trees and kindred sub- 

 jects beforehand and afterwards. It 

 should rather be the focal or culminating 

 point of the year's observation of trees 

 and other natural objects with which 

 they are closely connected. The wise teacher 

 seek to cultivate the observing faculties of 

 the pupils by calling their attention to the inter- 

 esting things with which the natural world abounds. 

 It is not necessary to this that there should be formal 

 classes in botany or any natural science, though we 

 think no school should be without its botanical class or classes, nor 

 should anyone be eligible to the place of a teacher in our public 

 schools who is not competent to give efficient instruction in botany at 

 least. 



But much may be done in this direction informally by brief, familiar 

 talks in the intervals between the regular recitations of the school- 

 room, or during the walks to and from school. A tree by the roadside 



