The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-04-15
BY w. w. PRESCOTT.
@attbman 4 suurmaL.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL Is, 1886.
Arbor Day Proclamation.
BY THE GOVERNOR.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

HARTFORD, April 6, 1885,
To the People Of Vermont The institution
of Arbor Day by executive proclamation,
based upon legislative enactment or other
rightful comprehension of the wants and
needs of the people, has already been set
up in many of the commonwealths of the
republic, and it is believed that every re-
naming state and territory will soon have
snatched an annual day from the calendar
and dedicated it to the honored observance
of this day. The love of Vermonters for
trees and groves should show itself along
every thoroughfare and wayside; upon the
village green and city park; around the
school-house and by the academy; the
grounds of the home should be tastefully
adorned with the maple, the oak and the elm,
and thereby made scenes of lovelier memo
ries; the church, too, should be reached
through their pleasant and inspiring shades;
and the Goods acre." where we shall all
soon sleep with our beloved ones, should
not remain neglected of these adornments
of nature that form the finest drapery that
hallows the earth. This sentiment is equally
strong in the minds of youth and age, with
women as well as with men. 1t is economic
in its practical results, in enhancing the
value of the farm, the village and the town 1;
in augmenting the beauty and comfort of
homes; and in setting them amid such
scenes of taste and loveliness as will en-
chain the memories of our children to them
to their latest day. To aid, therefore, in the
systematic encouragement of tree-planting
throughout our various communities; to
awaken and develop among our people, and
especially in our youth, a taste for the study
of nature and a purpose to take delight and
profit in an important branch of agriculture;
to render our homes more homelike and at
tractive by the annual setting of thousands
of shade trees in every town; and to the
end that the happiness and comfort of our
people in the years to come be measurably
increased, do hereby designate and recon-
mend that FRIDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF MAY,
A. ID. 1885, be observed as Arbor Day, and
respectfully ask that it be made a general
holiday. And 1 recommend that the people
of the state do, on that day, plant trees
along the streets, by the roadsides, in parks
and commons, around the public buildings,
by their homes and in the waste places.
Municipal and religious corporations, So
cieties for village and town improvement,
school officers and teachers, and all who
can plant tree can contribute aid in car
rying out the purpose of the day which
promises so important results in the near
future. Organizations and plans for the
systematic observance of the day should be
made beforehand by societies, associations
and schools, and the study of the various
trees and the details essential to their safe
transplanting should initiate the work, to
make the day one of ardent and inspiring
interest and value.
Given under my hand and the state seal at
Hartford, this sixth day of April, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-ive.
SAMUEL E. PINGREE.
By the GoUernOr:
ALFRED E. WATSON,
Secretary Of CiuH and Military affairs.