Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-10-16
ARBOR DAY CELEBRATIONS,

ARBOR DAY CELEBRATIONS.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF ARBoR DAY.
Nebraska has the honor of origin
atlng the celebration of Arbor Day.
In 1874, at the request of the State
Board of Agriculture, the Governor
OF the State appointed the second
Wednesday of April as day for the
planting OF trees by the citizens gen
orally, and it is said that millions of
trees were planted on that day.
In Kansas the day was first OBJ
served in the city of Topeka. in ac
cordance with proclamation by
the mayor of that city. Other
States which were deficient in tim
Der fell rapidly in line. Then still
other States began to observe the
DAY as a school holiday, which was
devoted not merely to the planting
OF trees, but to the beautifying of
school grounds as well.
If Arbor Days are necessary in
the prairie States, they are not less
needed in States in which timber
abounds. In almost every rural dis
trlct there is need for Improvement
In the grounds about the school
house. The day has, moreover, its
social and moral benefits, which are
not to be rated lightly 1t affords
an opportunity for neighborhood
visiting and consultation. 1t brings
together the teachers, the parents
and the pupils, and prevents es-
arrangements between them. 1t
gives to all new interest in the
school and its work. 1t affords an
opportunity to present to the par
ties most interested the school needs
of the hour.
CHOICE OF TREES.
The choice of trees for planting in
school grounds should be made with
some care. Trees of offensive odor,
and those which attract insects, lit
ter the ground, sprout at the roots,
bear thorns, and prove otherwise
Objectionable should be avoided. As
a rule, the trees which grow wild in
the same locality are most certain
of vigorous growth, and it is not
necessary to go to the expense and
trouble of procuring eXotics, though
few of the latter may afford a
pleasing variety and prove of special
interest to the pupils
Where shade is urgently needed,
rapidly growing trees are often pre-
ferred, though these are the earli-
est to die, and are apt to become un-
slightly within a few years. If such
trees be used at all, their retention
should be considered temporary at
best, and more substantial trees of
slower growth should be set out at
the same time, to supply the shade
for the future, when the rapid
growers shall have been cleared
away.
For there is hope of tree, If it be cut down,
that it will sprout again,
And that the tender branch thereof will
not cease,
Though. the root thereof wax old in the
EARTH
And the stock thereof die in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth boughs like plant.
job xiv. 10.
The true basis of national wealth
is not gold, but wood. Forest des
truction is the sin that has caused
us to lose our earthly paradise.
War, pestilence, storms, fanaticism,
and intemperance, together with all
other mistakes and misfortunes, have
not caused half so much permanent
damage as that fatal crime against
the fertility of our Mother Earth.
FELIX L. OSWALD.
Keeping up a fit proportion of
forests to arabic land, is the prime
condition of human health. If the
trees go, men must decay. Who
soever works for the forests works
for the happiness and permanence
of our civilization. A tree may be
an obstruction, bnt it is never use
less. Now is the time to work, if
we are to be blessed and not cursed
by the people of the twentieth and
twenty first centuries. The nation
that neglect the forests is surely des-
tined to ruin. ELIZUR WRIGHT.
Trees have about them something
beautiful and attractive even to the
fancy. Since they cannot change
their place, they are witnesses of
all the changes that take place
around them and, as some reach a
great age, they become as it were,
historical monuments and, like
ourselves, they have a life, growing
and passing away, but being mani
mated and unvarying. like the fields
and rivers. One sees them passing
through various stages, and at
last, step by step, approaching
death, which makes them look still
more like ourselves.
ALEXANDER Won HUMBOLDT.
There is something noble simple
and pure in a taste for tina cultiva-
ton of forest trees. 1t argues, l
think, a sweet and a generous. ma
ture to have the strong relish for
the beauties of vegetation, and this
friendship for the hardy and glori-
Gus sons of the forest. There is q
grandeur of thought connected with
this part of rural economy.
He who plants an oak looks forward
to future ages, and plant for poster
ity. Nothing can be less selfish
than this.
WASHINGTON IRVING.