ARBOR BAY 
1 1 1 
could then be bombarded with pamphlets, &c. ; and I would 
further suggest that such pamphlets be not headed “ A Plea for 
the Birds,” “ The Cruelty of Wearing Aigrettes,” &c., &c., in 
accordance with the subject-matter of them ; but quite other- 
wise — say after this manner, “The Coming Hat!” “What 
Royalty wears,” “ A Novelty in Dress,” and so on. Thus, by 
“ a pious (and most justifiable) fraud ” they might get read, and 
the seed sometimes strike root. These suggestions may be 
crude, perhaps, but they could be improved upon and better 
worked out. It wants but the beginning. 
I must add that when 1 began to write this I had not read 
about the Audubon Societies in America. I find, then, that my 
main idea (I have had it for some little time) is already being 
carried out in America. Then why not here ? Can we only talk ? 
Edmund Selous. 
Warn i l Hall, Mildenhall, Suffolk. 
ARBOR DAY. 
RBOR Day ” is American in origin ; but, as there is 
“ no new thing under the sun,” it is safer to refer its 
institution to remote antiquity. The Americans 
probably started it in order to restore the natural 
forests with which the early settlers had made too free. 
It has been said that every man owes three duties to himself 
and posterity — to beget a son, dig a well, and plant a tree. We 
are indebted to our ancestors for these necessities of existence, 
and Arbor Day thus helps a man to fulfil his obligations. 
On January 6, 1897, a letter appeared in the Times on the cider 
industry, in which the writer dwelt on the fact that the present 
generations in Kent were ill repaying the planting enterprise of 
their predecessors, and suggested the institution of Arbor Day 
for the double purpose of renovating Kentish orchards and 
commemorating the long reign of the Queen. The notion struck 
me as singularly appropriate, and I accordingly advocated its 
adoption in an article in the St. James’s Gazette. Consequently, 
when, through the energy of the author of the suggestion, 
February 27 was fixed as the date of Arbor Day in the pic- 
turesque and ancient village of Eynsford, Kent, where the 
farmers have recently revived the industry of cider-making, 
once common in the county, I received an invitation to be 
present on the occasion in company with Sir George Birdwood, 
whose interest in everything tending to brighten rural life and 
restore rural industries is well known. To myself the occasion 
had special attractions because I was informed that it was the 
intention of the promoters of the movement to plant a con- 
siderable number of the best vintage varieties of apples they 
