ARBOR DAY. 



ARBOR DAY. 



By E. D. Till, F.R.H.S. 



"forward in the name of God ! graffe, set, plant and nourish up trees in every 

 corner of your grounds ; the labour is small, the cost is nothing, the commoditie is 

 great, your selves shall have plenty, the poore shall have somewhat in time of want to 

 relieve their necessitie, and God shall reward your good mindes and diligence." 



John Gerhakde, 1633. 



Trees are more or less common to the whole surface of our land, whether 

 marsh, moorland or mountain, arable or pasture, arable land, perhaps, 

 excepted, but even arable fields are often skirted by trees. There are few 

 altitudes in the British Isles where trees will not flourish. We speak of 

 trees " clothing" the earth, and when they are absent we speak of the 

 " naked" landscape, as though that which was proper to it was wanting. 

 Trees, therefore, are the earth's natural ornament, and it is ?i7matural for 

 the land to be without them ; moreover they are necessary, because trees, 

 and vegetation generally, consume the w^aste products of animal life ; thus 

 they play an indispensable part in the economy of nature. 



The carbon dioxide exhaled by animals is inhaled and assimilated by 

 plants, and this is one of the marvellous processes which are a continual 

 witness to Creative design. The silent machinery is ever in motion by 

 which the atmosphere of our planet is purified, and the processes of 

 animal life find their counterpoise in the processes of vegetable life, the 

 one complementary and necessary to the other by a mutually operative 

 and immutable law. Were it otherwise, both plants and animals would 

 be poisoned by the respective waste products they exhale. 



Treeless areas are not conducive to the retention of moisture ; the rain 

 that falls on them either flows away quickly because it meets with no 

 impediment or is rapidly evaporated, whereas forest lands, rendered 

 porous by the roots which permeate the soil, and shaded by foliage, are 

 far more retentive. 



Therefore every tree that is planted contributes to the conservation of 

 water, restrains the denudation of the soil by floods, tempers and im- 

 proves the climate, enhances the beauty of the landscape, and assists, 

 above all, to provide for the constant need of every community in the 

 supply of timber for constructive purposes and for fuel, as well as in bring- 

 ing forth abundant fruits for man's enjoyment. Nothing tends so much as 

 trees to make the earth a pleasant abode for man. In former days, par- 

 ticularly in North America, the vast expanse of wood was an impediment 

 to the progress of agriculture, and the clearance of the forest for the pur- 

 poses of cultivation became a prime necessity. But the axe was laid at 

 the roots of the trees with a vengeance, and the forests were felled without 

 any regard to the future ; present necessity was the sole thought in the 

 minds of the early settlers, and they, like multitudes who came after 

 them, " held the cent so close to their eve as to obscure the dollar 

 beyond " ! Forest fires, kindled by accident or carelessness, followed in 

 the train of destruction, until in process of time thoughtful and far-seeing 



