WHAT ARBOR DAY IS AND ITS VALDE, 
A lthough Arbor custom is as familiar as a houseliold word to the people 
of America, Canada, ylustralia and New Zealand, the question is but little 
understood in this country. We therefore desire to explain its advantages, 
*in the hope that the celebration of Arbor Day may become general throughout 
the Kingdom. 
Trees are the earth’s natural ornament, and it is imnatural for the land to l)e 
without them. Moreover, they are necessary to man, not only because of the fruits 
they produce, but for the service they jperform in purifying the atmosphere we 
■ bieathe. 
AVithout trees man could not exist upon the earth. Every tree that is planted 
contributes to the. conservation of water, enhances the beauty of the landscape, and tends 
to make the earth a more pleasant abode — in fact, we cannot enumerate the countless 
benefits of tree culture. 
Arbor Day is an American institution, originated by a settler, the late John 
Stirling Morton, in 1872. Deploring the treeless condition of Nebraska, he obtained a 
State decree for the observance of one day in the year for Tree-planting, and to further 
his object he secured the co-operation of the State Schools. Truly this noble pioneer’s 
work has accomplished marvels. Nebraska alone not only now boasts of more than 
a thousand million trees planted in that state through the agency of Arbor Day, but the 
institution has spread to every State in the Union, as well as to Canada, Australia, 
New Zealand, the Cape, Sweden, Spain and Italy. 
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 fiwst 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 6th. Washington’s birthday, February 22nd, 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 observance and interpretation of 
