xviii ARBOR DAY 



unhealthy metropolis "back to the soil," where 

 they are needed. 



Then, in turn, Arbor Day, by arousing the "bare- 

 foot boy" to a sense of those beautiful miracles of 

 the commonplace amid which he lives, and by 

 keeping him in touch with the modern, scientific 

 side of rural life, is a potent factor in keeping him 

 away from the city and in making him a happier, 

 more intelligent, and more effective farmer. 



Many more of the blessed influences of the 

 delightful holiday are fully brought out in the pages 

 that follow. 



While the important movement for the conserva- 

 tion of our national resources, inaugurated by 

 President Roosevelt, has given Arbor Day a new 

 national significance, it has emphasized the unfor- 

 tunate character of its name. "If the name of 

 Arbor Day," wrote George William Curtis, "may 

 seem to be a little misleading, because the word 

 * arbor,' which meant a tree to the Romans, means 

 a bower to Americans, yet it may well serve until a 

 better name is suggested." 



The name has served us, it is true, from the days 

 when we first awoke to a dim realization of our 

 criminal waste of trees and its perils. Almost 

 four decades ago, when the infant holiday was 

 christened, our whole idea of the conservation of 

 natural resources was to plant a few trees once a 

 year. But that idea was merely a first vague pre- 



