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ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
Specimen Programs. —Port Henry, N. ft’.—Continued. 
the State Superintendent authority to prescribe the exercises and print and send to every 
school in the State full circulars of instruction. State Superintendent Draper is working 
up this subject with great efficiency. 
In a lecture trip, quite across the State, I find such interest and enthusiasm in this work 
among teachers and school superintendents as warrant the expectation that New York’s 
first Arbor Day will witness the planting of more trees, shrubs and vines in school 
grounds and approaches around the homes, and by the road sides, than were ever started 
before on any one day in this State, however much has already been done. 
In large cities, there may seem to be little room for tree-planting and no call for a holi¬ 
day for this work, but even then fit talks, or the memorizing of suitable selections such 
as Superintendent Draper recommends will be useful, and there are few homes where 
children cannot find some place for shrubs, vines or flowers, if not for trees. 
Though the course of study is already over-crowded, trees and tree-planting formafit 
•subject for oral lessons, now common in all our best schools. Such talks will lead youth 
to observe and admire our noble trees, and to realize that they are the grandest products 
-of nature. 
Our schools can render new service to the State, as well as to the pupils by leading them 
•to observe the habits of trees and appreciate their value and beauty, thus making them 
practical arborists, as is contemplated in the New York Arbor Day Law. Superintendent 
Draper’s suggestions, that a vote shall be taken in all the schools to ascertain which is 
their choice for “ State Tree,” and compositions by scholars each on “ My Favorite Tree,” 
and of planting “ Memorial Trees,” and the dedication of one tree in every district to 
Washington, will tend to deepen and extend the sentiment of trees, and thus realize the 
motto of Dr. Holmes and “Make Trees Monuments of History and Character.” 
Cordially yours, 
B. G. Northrop. 
From Hon. B. E. Fernow, Chief of Forestry Division, United States Department of 
Agriculture. 
Washington, D. C., April 4, 1889. 
Dear Sir — Your letter giving me an account of your successful Arbor Day exercises 
-of last year and requesting some words of encouragement as a stimulus to the exertions 
of your pupils for the present season, calls to mind the well-known proverb: “Tall Oaks 
From Little Acorns Grow.” There is a deep meaning in these words, especially in con- 
.nection with Arbor Day. 
Has it occurred to.you, that with the inauguration of Arbor Day in almost all the 
■ States — now thirty at least — we inaugurate an era of reform ? Have your boys and girls 
understood that, in planting the shade and lawn trees with festive celebration, they do 
only start a new vegetable growth, deriving pleasure from the work and its progress from 
year to year, but they' also plant the seed of a new era in the economy of our nation, that 
they foreshadow a reform in our methods of utilizing the bountiful resources, of our 
country ? 
What is the object of Arbor Day ? To plant shade trees and have a good time ? Oh no! 
Although the setting of a tree is useful and pleasurable, although the festivities attending 
it are pleasurable and useful in impressing the mind with the memory of the occasion, 
the deeper object of Arbor Day is to so imbue the coming generation with a love of tree 
growth and tree planting, that out of a nation of wood-choppers there may arise a nation 
of tree-planters and foresters. 
When first our forefathers came to this country, it was a dense forest, and to make 
•fields and agriculture it was necessary to get rid of the forest at any cost. This has pro¬ 
duced in our nation a hatred against trees, and we have cut away and slashed and burnt, 
.until now it becomes necessary to cry a halt and reverse our actions. With the opening 
up and settlement of the treeless prairies and plains, the settlers in that new country have 
learned to appreciate the usefulness of trees, and it is to one of those States— Nebraska— 
that Arbor Day took its origin, and now millions of trees are planted there on that day. 
With clearing in the Eastern States it became apparent, that we were getting short of 
useful timber, and also that the favorable influence which the forests exert on climate and 
-on the even water-flow of our streams, was interfered with. And so Arbor Day became 
established in the Eastern States, especially in the schools. 
What more encouragement to go on with this work need there be for a patriotic Ameri¬ 
can boy, than the thought that by his action he is helping to shape the development of his 
people and his country in the right direction ? And when he doubts whether this mite of 
his can really have any effect upon the great nation, let him recall the proverb, “ Tall oaks 
from little acorns grow,” and plant his acorn or his tree in confidence of a desirable result. 
With best wishes for your good work, I am Truly yours. 
B. E. Fernow. 
