INTRODUCTION xi 



remembrance of the day. This festival still exists 

 and is known as "The Switch Parade." 



"The first to call attention in this country, in an 

 impressive way, to the value and absolute need of 

 trees," writes Egleston,* "was that eminent scholar 

 and wise observer, Mr. George P. Marsh, for many 

 years our worthy representative at the courts of 

 Italy and Turkey. His residence in those older 

 countries was calculated to draw his attention to 

 the subject as it would not have been drawn had he 

 always lived in his native land. 



"In Europe Mr. Marsh found the governments of 

 Italy and Germany, as well as those of other countries, 

 making active endeavors and at great expense to 

 rehabilitate their forests, 'which had been depleted 

 centuries before, to guard them from depredation, 

 and, instead of leaving them to be consumed at the 

 bidding of personal greed or recklessness, cherishing 

 them as among their most precious possessions. . . . 

 He found schools, of a grade corresponding to our 

 colleges, established for the special purpose of train- 

 ing men for the successful planting and cultivation 

 of forests. He found the growth of trees in masses 

 and their maintenance reduced to a science, and the 

 management of the woodlands constituting one of 

 the most important departments of state. 



" Such discoveries were well calculated to fix his 

 attention upon the very different condition of the 



* "Arbor Day: Its History and Observance," by N. H. Egleaton. 



