BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
LEAFLETS 
Series X Brooklyn, N.Y., April 5, 1922. No. 1 
ARBOR DAY 
" When we plant a tree, we are doing what we can to make 
our planet a more wholesome and happier dwelling place for 
those who come after us if not for ourselves.” 
—Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
The significance of Arbor Day, I find by questioning various 
intelligent citizens, is shrouded in a certain mystery and vague- 
ness. Somewhere, somehow, someone plants trees. It has some- 
thing to do with the schools and school children, and the day 
itself may be ordained by civic or govermental authorities after 
some inscrutable standard of their own.* 
But this unenlightenment exists for the most part among the 
present older generations, for most of whom the institutiofNe-f 
Arbor Day was just beginning in their schooldays. Hardly a boy 
or girl of the younger generation today but knows the meaning of 
this festival and has assisted in the performance of its ceremonies. 
History of the Arbor Day Movement 
The history of the development of the Arbor Day movement 
begins with its first celebration in Nebraska as early as 1872. 
Later in the seventies, three other states, Kansas, Tennessee and 
Minnesota, gave their official approval; in the eighties the wave 
of enthusiasm reached thirty more states; in the nineties, eight 
more, and nearly all of the others since 1900. Thus we see a 
gradual overspreading of the institution throughout the country 
until now it is celebrated almost universally in the United States 
and its territories and also over a large portion of the rest of the 
civilized world. 
The idea originated in Nebraska, where, in common with 
other states in the Great Plains area, the first settlers sorely felt 
the lack of trees with all their accompanying benefits, such as 
timber for houses and fences, shade in the hot summers, and pro- 
tection for orchards, field crops, and buildings from the high 
winds that sweep over that flat country. As a consequence, tree 
planting early became popular although haphazard. In 1872, at a 
* Possibly the name might be a little misleading, for we have in English two 
“arbors one derived from the Latin and signifying”tree,” used in Arborvitae, 
or Tree of Life, and similar botanical names. The other word is connected with 
the English “ herb ” (colloquially yarb or arb), which, although originally denot- 
ing a grassplot or lawn, has come to mean a bower or a place sheltered by green 
leaves or vines above (e. g. grape arbor). It is of course the first meaning that 
is used in Arbor Day or Tree Day. 
