16 ARBOR DAY 



enforced the same idea, especially in those states in 

 which the pupils have cast their ballots on Arbor 

 Day in favor of a state tree and state flower. Hab- 

 its of observation have thus been formed which 

 have led youth in their walks, at work or play, to 

 recognize and admire our noble trees, and to realize 

 that they are the grandest products of Nature and 

 form the finest drapery that adorns the earth in all 

 lands. How many of these children in maturer 

 years will learn from happy experience that there 

 is a peculiar pleasure in the parentage of trees, 

 forest, fruit or ornamental a pleasure that never 

 cloys but grows with their growth. 



Arbor Day has proved as memorable for the home 

 as the school, leading youth to share in dooryard 

 adornments. Much as has been done on limited 

 school grounds, far greater improvements have been 

 made on the homesteads and the roadsides. The 

 home is the objective point in the hundreds of village 

 improvement societies recently organized. The 

 United States Census of 1890 shows that there has 

 recently been a remarkable increase of interest in 

 horticulture, arboriculture, and floriculture. The 

 reports collected from 4,510 nurserymen give a 

 grand total of 3,386,855,778 trees, vines, shrubs, 

 roses, and plants as then growing on their grounds. 

 Arbor Day and village improvement societies are 

 not the least among the many happy influences 

 that have contributed to this grand result. 



