ARBOR DAY. 23 



education comes before dire necessity has established her- 

 self as teacher ; that it conies in the shape of a pleasant 

 " Arbor Day festival," which teaches young and old to re- 

 flect on the value of a forest tree, and which inspires the 

 first scintilla of interest in the life and enthusiasm in the 

 planting of a forest tree, which foreshadows the work of 

 the forester in the coming generation. It is, therefore, 

 especially the young, in school and out of school, who 

 should be impressed with the significance of the day so set 

 aside ; who should be taught the meaning of their planted 

 tree with regard to the development of the nation ; who 

 should understand that they inaugurate with this celebra- 

 tion a new era of American life the era of forest planters, 

 arising out of the era of forest destroyers. 



As you will see from the statement prepared by Mr. 

 Egleston, there are enough of the states awakened to the 

 significance and educational value of Arbor Day to make 

 the inauguration of a national Arbor Day not a chimerical 

 idea. Such an institution would be desirable, for many 

 reasons, and would give the impetus of united enthusiasm 

 to the work of forestry reform. The only practical objec- 

 tion to such a national Arbor Day, that tree-planting can- 

 not be properly performed in all parts of the country on 

 the same day, becomes invalid if the planting is done on 

 the days best suited, which are not the sunniest, and the 

 celebration is deferred to the common holiday ; for while 



