The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1888-02-02

oouOt not 0e mf moD geuDr1l man
,hecelotore La this increased Interest
Florida viii emulate the example Of other
States where Arbor Day il observed, and
it will probably become national insti-
tuition 80 fsr ~ being established in all
the States and Territories hut, unlike
Thanksgiving Day, viii not become the
subject Of presidential proclamation, as
the differing climates of the States give
different seasons for tree planting. We
have not the data to inform us as to how
many of the States have adopted the Ar.
Dor Day custom, but the number has
been increasing from year to year since it
WIS originated in Nebraska thirteen years
ago, when, at the request of the State
Board of Agriculture, the Governor APP
pointed the second Wednesday in April
Is the day to be devoted to economic
tree planting, and it was claimed that
twelve million of trees Mere planted on
that day" Successive Governors of Ne
braska have appointed the same day, for
in that severe cline the frost is then but
well out of the ground. Our Arbor Day
10 some two months earlier, not that there
would be frozen ground to hinder planting
at any time in winter, but because the
weight of authority approves the period
just before the sap is starting annual
growth as the most favorable time in tree
life for transplanting, though if the work
is carefully done, and the plant kept i'm
moveably in place thereafter, there is lit
tie risk at any time after the sap has gone
down in autumn.
Arbor Day attracted the attention of
the federal government some years after
the States began to observe it. That is,
the Observance was referred to approx
ingly, and encouraged, in the publications
of the Department of the Interior through
the Bureau of immigration. We have
before US pamphlet issued from the gov
eminent printing Office in Washington in
1885, entitled, Planting Trees in School
Grounds and the Celebration of Arbor
Day." which, however, is not confined in
its matter merely to the direct suggestions
of the title, but handles the subject of for
estry as to its economic Importance to
country's welfare. Standard authorities
many countries in Europe, and some in
Asia and Africa, and number of islands,
have become sterile and unproductive in
consequence of having been denuded of
the forest growth. The planting of trees,
and preventing the destruction of forests,
which some of the governments began TO
enforce under penalty at least fifty years
ago, are restoring the productive capacity
which enables the support of full popula-
tions. In some countries it is a govern
ment regulation that where a portion Of
forest is cleared an equal area of land
must be planted in trees, for it results
that when the tree growth of wide ex-
tent is destroyed the rain falls dimin-
ish, the small streams disappear, the
| rivers shrink in their beds and the land
is rapidly sworn out" to condition Of
parched sterility. Young America
should profit by the lesson of Old Europe
and not need to be taught it by calamitous
experience. Though it is true the dam
age has been great in some States, our
task is rather to preserve the forests we
have than to make them anew outright,
though we must compensate this by
equal renewals wherever the woodland
is already reduced to the smallest area
justifable.
The practical lessons of Arbor Day
make it the most useful of the school year
in impressing upon children the impor-
lance Of tree growth, that the coming gen.
erations may grow up with such fixed
ideas on the subject as will be manifested
in the preservation and perpetuation of
so much woodland throughout the coun-
try as is essential to the maintenance of
Its productive capacity. John G. Whit
tier, poet, and philosopher, says, "The
wealth, beauty, fertility and healthful-
ness Of the country largely depend upon
the conservation of our forests and the
planting of trees" In proof of this, SCI
ence has demonstrated that "the forests
of a country are potent in the formation
of clouds and the descent of rain"-hence
fertility, beauty and wealth. They " ab-
sorb from the air carbonic acid and other
gaseous and volatile products, developed
by the natural phenomena of decomposi-
ton, and instead of them pour into the
atmosphere pure oxygen, essential to hu
man life"-hence healthfulness. So when
q tree is planted the first step is taken to-
ward creating an individual factor in the
wealth, beauty, fertility and healthfulness
ola country. To be continued-nsxt year.
There is good sense in the proposal
| of the Navy Department to give contracts
| for some of the machinery for the two ar