796 JOUKNAL OF THE KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



citizens foresaw that the supply of timber would be inadequate, and 

 viewed the rapid depletion of the trees with alarm. Measures of con- 

 servation were then devised. A pioneer settler, the Hon. J. Sterling 

 Morton, in the treeless plains of Nebraska, suggested the inauguration of 

 an annual Arbor or Tree-planting day, and eventually stimulated the 

 popular feeling in the right direction. The response was general ; the 

 first observance in Nebraska State was in 1872, and the first Arbor Day 

 holiday occurred on April 22 of that year. 



Other States and Territories followed this example — Tennessee, for 

 instance, in 1878 — until at the present time nearly every State in the 

 Union has established the regular observance of Arbor Day as a public 

 institution, Delaware, Indian Territory, and Utah being the only excep- 

 tions. It is said that in South Carolina a whole week is devoted to 

 tree-planting. Nebraska, once called the Great American desert, is now 

 significantly styled the " Tree-planters' State." 



Up to 1896 it was computed that the planting of 605,000,000 trees 

 in Nebraska was directly traceable to the Arbor Day movement, and 

 so extensively has the custom prevailed throughout the whole of the 

 United States that it is impossible to estimate the number of trees 

 planted through Arbor celebrations. From the first the idea was to 

 enlist the interest of children in the work, and with such success has this 

 been done that the school authorities throughout the States have been 

 made the chief agents for the promotion of the national observance of 

 Arbor Day, which is always associated with the idea of a public holiday. 

 Each State of the Union has its own Arbor Day : some observe it in 

 November and December, others in January and February. In Nebraska 

 it falls as late as April, and in North Dakota as late as May 6. Washing- 

 ton's birthday, February 22, is the date of its observance in Texas. 



Americans consider the custom conducive in a high degree to juvenile 

 education, cultivating in the young the love of Nature and the observ- 

 ance and interpretation of her wonderful laws. For instance, the 

 systematic care and attention to detail called forth by the planting and 

 nurture of even one tree, and watching its growth and development, 

 cannot be without formative effect on character. Probably the introduc- 

 tion of youthful energies into the scheme in large measure accounts for 

 the marvellous success of the movement. Visitors to the United States 

 and Canada, where the custom also prevails, return home impressed with 

 its advantages. 



Australia, New Zealand, and to a partial extent South Africa have 

 adopted the Arbor Day custom. Tasmania has not yet felt the necessity 

 for it, but she would do well, possessing as she does so much virgin 

 forest, to be wise in time. Italy and Spain have endeavoured to intro- 

 duce the movement, assisted by royal patronage in each country. 



Except in the Kentish village of Eynsford, the custom has not 

 been celebrated in the British Isles. Arbor celebration was begun 

 in Eynsford in the Jubilee of 1897, when farmers and cottagers planted 

 Apple-trees and the school children planted a row of trees on the 

 school bank, arranged so that the initial letters of the name of each 

 tree spell a text of Scripture. The successful defence of Kimberley, 

 Ladysmith, and Mafeking was commemorated by the planting of trees 



