CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 9 



vation was an attempt to reforest the treeless plains 

 of our Western States. On March 3, 1873, the 

 Timber Culture Act was passed by Congress by 

 which the planting to timber of 40 acres of land 

 in the treeless territories conferred the title to 160 

 acres of public domain. At first this act seemed 

 to work out as intended but it did not take very 

 many years before it proved a dismal failure. Set- 

 tlers had no knowledge of planting trees; the re- 

 strictions of the act could not be enforced, and the 

 act was open to other abuses. The act was finally 

 repealed in 1891. Many similar laws for encour- 

 aging the planting of timber were passed by the 

 legislatures of some of the Middle Western States, 

 but all met with little success. In 1874 Nebraska 

 inaugurated Arbor Day. By this act of the legis- 

 lature the second Wednesday in April of each year 

 was set aside for planting trees. Other States have 

 followed the example of Nebraska, so that to-day 

 almost every State provides one day in the year 

 for planting trees. Thus Arbor Day has become 

 practically a national institution. 



The Act of August 16, 1876. The first con- 

 structive piece of legislation enacted by the Con- 

 gress of the United States was the Act of August 



