Arbor and Bird Day in the Public School. 
The law creating Arbor day was approved April 14th, 1884, 
and has been since that data appropriately observed in the public 
and in many of the private schools of the State. 
The combining of Arbor day with Bird day was recommended by 
State Superintendent C. J. Baxter, in a circular issued April 
29th, 1898. i 
The joint observance of Arbor and Bird day was also recom¬ 
mended by Governor Franklin Murphy in proclamations issued in 
1902 and 1903. Such observance is now quite general throughout 
the State. 
The following circulars of Superintendent Baxter and procla¬ 
mations of Governors \ oorhees and Murphy were issued on the 
dates given: 
STATE OF NEW JERSEY, 
' " ARBOR DAY, 
APRIL 29tix, 1S9S. 
Department of Public Instruction , 
,State vl yew Jersey: Trenton, April 29tli, 1S9S. 
My Dear Pupils— To the Hon. .7. Sterling Morton, our first United States 
Secretary ot Agriculture, belongs the honor of instituting our American Arbor 
cl Eiy. 
At a meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, held at Lincoln. 
January 4th. 18 he introduced a resolution recommending the setting apart 
of one day in the year tor the planting of trees. This resolution was unani- 
mously adopted, and as a result oyer one million trees were planted in the State 
of Nebraska on April 10th, 1872. 
served hvT^T ,° f f rbor 1 d ' ay is now so generally recognized that it is ob¬ 
served by the schools of nearly every State and Territory in the Union, and you 
are learned to look forward to rt with increasing interest each year. The 
trees are indeed most valuable to us, far more so than you realize, if you have 
never made them a subject of special study. Throughout the year they brim- 
us kmdl.v ministries, for some of which I fear the majority of people are urn 
° ateful because unmindful of their presence and their source. 
"hough indebted to the trees for so much it would seem as though we were 
oUrlty of base ingratitude, if while remembering them we do not also give a 
thought to those who are both their friends and ours. This is why I have pre¬ 
pared this letter to be read to you on Arbor day. Many very excellent and 
doselv PI r Ple thmk Arb ° r day 8hould 1,ave two equaUy important and 
close!} allied purposes m view and be called “Arbor and Bird day.” 
(21) 
