94 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



tinued as now, can not fail to make this a treeless waste, a desolate 

 and uninhabitable country. 



Procrastination is the thief of time. The ( General Government 

 should no longer postpone a definition of its policy regarding forests, 

 rivers and its millio?is of acres of arid lands. The American people 

 have been slow to realize the drifting of this country toward a 

 forest famine and its destructive results It may be said, "In a 

 republican government it is not good policy for legislation to go 

 far in advance of public sentiment." And on the subject of forestry 

 the people have been politically dumb; and no doubt would have 

 remained so a much longer period, had it not been for the inspira- 

 tion of Governor Morton. One cold day in January, 1872, he 

 presented a resolution before the Agricultural Society of Nebraska, 

 to set apart one day in each year and consecrate it to planting 

 trees. This day was christened " Arbor Day," and is now observed 

 by law and proclamation in thirty- one States, has entered our 

 schools and colleges, and forestry forms part of the curriculum 



Wherever Arbor Day has been observed, it has awakened a 

 sense of inquiry — has taught the children the names, nature and 

 usefulness of trees, with a lasting admiration and love for them 

 The older people have also received an important lesson, how tc 

 use, and yet preserve their forests. 



True, Arbor Day has done but little to compensate for the ten 

 million acres of natural forests that are destroyed each year. But 

 was it John Brown's pikes, at Harper's Ferry, that caused a blood- 

 less emancipation ? The solution of every great problem has its 

 beginnings in peripheral strokes. The first demonstrations may 

 appear child-like or impracticable. Still, if not the steps of logic, 

 they are no less those of inspiration, which has, and must govern 

 the world. 



And now Nebraska, with her million acres of planted forests, has. 

 made each tree a living oracle of the gods; and Minnesota, Kan- 

 sas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and other Western States, are close upon her 

 in the right road. With laws and plantings and premiums ; with 

 schools and colleges; with the hearts of workers in it; forestry has- 

 built up a healthy public sentiment that must be felt. The Eastern 

 States are also glistening with law officers to protect their woods 

 from fires and thieves ; and by large premiums and exemptions 

 from taxation, have greatly promoted the interest of forestry in 

 their respective States. 



