INTRODUCTION 



ALTHOUGH Arbor Day is one of the newest of our 

 American holidays, its institution is merely the revival 

 of an ancient custom. It is said that the Aztecs always 

 planted a tree when an infant came into the world, 

 and gave it the child's own name. And the old 

 Mexican Indians plant trees on certain days of 

 the year, under the full moon, naming them after 

 their children. 



There is a similar custom of long standing in 

 certain parts of rural Germany, where each member 

 of each family plants a tree with appropriate cere- 

 monies at Whitsuntide, forty days after Easter. 



Some unknown seeker after truth once discovered 

 in a Swiss chronicle of the fifth century an account 

 of an early and curious institution of Arbor Day. 

 It seems that the people of a little Swiss town called 

 Brugg assembled in council and resolved to plant a 

 forest of oak trees on the common. The first rainy 

 day thereafter the citizens began their work. They 

 dug holes in the ground with canes and sticks, and 

 dropped an acorn into each hole, tramping the dirt 

 over it. More than twelve sacks were sown in 

 this way, and after the work was done each citizen 

 received a wheaten roll as a reward. 



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