26 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ARBOR DAY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Arbor day is rapidly becoming characteristic of 
the energy with which the American people take 
up a good cause, when once the benefits to be de- 
rived are understood and appreciated. It is a sign 
that the destructive policy of a cruder'civilization is 
being replaced by the constructive ideas prevailing 
in a hi gher cultivation. 
At first designed to make good in some com- 
prehensive scheme, the ravages of the commercial 
spirit in denuding Nebraska of its forest growth, it 
has spread to a majority of the states, and not only 
includes” the planting of forest trees, but also in 
many legislative enactments that of fruit, ornamen- 
tal trees and shrubs and flowers, and moreover es- 
pecially urge the public schools to take a particu- 
larly prominent part in the work allotted for the day. 
To endorse the suggestions of the proclamations 
issued by the governors of the various states, is to 
emphasize an object worthy of the active sympathy 
of every citizen. With the intelligence of the Ameri- 
can people, their advanced station in educational 
privileges, and the immense natural resources at 
their command, there is no reason why this country 
should not, in a sense, become a broad garden, with 
intelligent improvements constantly in progress. 
To arouse a spirit in the school children in har- 
mony with the beautiful ideas involved in Arbor 
Day, is to stimulate them towards a higher order of 
life, and to infuse into them a love of nature which 
will endure through life. One of the best efforts 
looking to the cultivation of higher aims and prin- 
ciples in the young to-day is that of improving the 
school house grounds. Hitherto this has been neg- 
lected, as may be readily observed on inspecting 
the majority of city school yards. If there is any- 
thing more conducive to counteracting the good im- 
bibed inside the school house, it is the desert air of 
the school yard. Arbor Day in the school yard will 
effect a reformation whose benefits will be incal- 
culable. 
The following extracts from proclamations just 
issued are worthy of careful and active consideration: 
Governor Hastings of Pennsylvania says: “We 
have learned the lesson that trees and the forests 
are essential to our continued prosperity and that 
he who plants a tree, whether boy or man, is a pub- 
lic benefactor. * * * Let the people choose the 
day which they deem best suited for tree planting 
and teach the children how to select trees for fruit, 
for shade, for fuel and for timber, how to plant, 
protect and foster the several species of trees, vines, 
shrubs and flowers, and how to use all these for 
economic and aesthetic purposes. Let every pupil 
learn what the forests do, how they hold the rain 
and the snow, feed the springs and the rivers, stay 
the floods and the freshets, and temper the summer’s 
scorching sun, and the winter’s chilling blasts. In 
the orchard and the field, about the home and along 
the highway, upon the school grounds and on the 
barren hillside let trees be planted for use and for 
beauty, thereby adding to the charms of life in 
beautiful Pennsylvania.” 
Governor Lowndes of Maryland, says: “I es- 
pecially recommend to parents and teachers in the 
Public Schools, that they encourage their children, 
or those under their influence, to plant or transplant 
at least one forest shade tree on that day, by the side 
of apublic road, or abouttheir school house or home.’” 
Governor Steunenberg of Idaho says: “I recom- 
mend that not only the authorities, but all classes, 
join in an effort to carry out the spirit of this useful 
and beneficial legislation to the end that the sur- 
roundings of our public institutions be beautified, 
our highways adorned, and the love of Nature and 
her wonderful works stimulated and refreshed.” 
Governor Cooke of Connecticut: “I recom- 
mend that the people of this state observe the day 
in the spirit of the statute, by planting fruitful and 
ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, in the orchards, 
along the hill ways, and around the homes and 
school houses, and that the teachers and pupils in 
public schools engage in exercises appropriate to 
the day.’’ 
Governor Pingree, of Michigan: “I also re- 
commend that this day be devoted to the general 
planting of trees, shrubs and flowers, to the end that 
lawns, schoolgrounds, public parks and streets and 
highways may be permanently enriched and beau- 
tified, and that a tree be planted for every member 
of each family. * * # I take this occasion, to 
urge better care of shade trees which abound beside 
our country roads.” 
Nebraska claims the Arbor Day as its own, and 
credit is given for so wise an institution to the last 
secretary of Agriculture, J. Sterling Morton, who be- 
gan agitating the matter, and passed a resolution in 
the State Board of Agriculture for setting apart a 
day, as early as January 4, 1872. The law was in- 
corporated into the statutes in 1885. It has be- 
come very popular. In his recent proclamation, 
Governor Holcomb says: “Especially do I recom- 
mend to the Public Schools the propriety of an ob- 
servance of the day by suitable exercises and practi- 
cal lessons in tree planting, in order that there may 
be inculcated in the minds of the children of the 
state a high appreciation of the pleasures, enjoy- 
ment, and utility, to the present and future genera- 
tions, of tree planting and timber preservation.” 
This annual institution has been taken up by the 
citizens of the state with great spirit, and the Public 
School authorities have issued a very comprehen- 
