48 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



planters, not of forest destroyers, for " Enlightened public 

 sentiment is better than a national police." 



The day was first celebrated in schools, in America, through 

 the influence of the Forestry Association, which met in Cincin- 

 nati in 1882. The city put on its holiday attire, public schools 

 were dismissed that teachers and pupils might take part in the 

 ceremonies. 



Fifty thousand people assembled in the parks to attend the 

 tree planting. Upon the firing of a gun, memorial groves, such 

 as President Grove, Pioneer's Grove, Battle, Citizens', Authors' 

 Groves, were planted by loving hands, and dedicated with 

 appropriate ceremonies. In each grove tablets with inscriptions 

 were set. The celebration aroused great enthusiasm. No sight 

 more touching or beautiful has been seen in Cincinnati, and a 

 crown of success was awarded the Forestry Association This 

 Cincinnati planting of memorial trees and groves has been fol- 

 lowed by other States and recommended in the schools of Great 

 Britain. When we consider that the age of an oak may be 

 2,000 years, of an elm 500, of a maple 800, what more endur- 

 ing or beneficent monument can be raised to the dead ! New 

 Haven with its famous elms, holds in grateful remembrance 

 Hon. James Hillhouse, by whose hands they were planted. 



Today the beautiful ash trees planted by Washington at Mt. 

 Vernon are not the least of his memorials. What monument of 

 marble moves the heart of every true American, as does the 

 Washington Elm in Cambridge, and as did our beloved Boston 

 Elm, upon whose fall the church bells tolled ! 



The interest in the grove, planted by Hamilton in New York, 

 grows deeper as time goes on, and by its living presence, seems 

 to bring us into closer touch with the hands that tended it in youth. 



In Iowa a law provided that each school shall plant twelve 

 trees upon its unshaded grounds. In towns where children can 

 plant trees the day is celebrated out of doors, by instructing the 

 scholars how to plant trees previously selected, and for which 

 holes have been carefully prepared, poems are read and songs 

 sung relating to their beauty and growth, thereby investing 

 them with an interest and affection that always follows a 



