The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1896-03-25
PLEA FOR ARBOR DAY.

What a beautiful thought to have an
''Arbor Day" festival, which would
teach young and old reflect on the value
-of a tree. Especially let our schools
have a holiday, and under the guidance
OF their teachers, attend to planting o.
trees on the school ground and else
where. Let special programs be pro
vided, including recitations, declama-
tions and appropriate songs, in order to
more perfectly celebrate the day. while
the higher institutions of learning-nor-
NAL schools and universities, should have
addresses delivered by eminent men to
engage the attention of faculty and stu
dent. On the campus have the various
classes plant commemorative trees, de-
liver speeches and original poems.
In Illinois, each State officer plants a
tree with his own hands on Arbor Day,
and the families of Lincoln, Logan,
Grant and Douglass are asked to select
a tree to be planted on State grounds.
Let every church yard plant trees.
The fact that 1.-THE groves were Gods
first temples" should induce ministers
to consider tre%e-planting as a duty to
Him, ourselves and our fellow man,
thereby making His house as pleasant
and attractive as possible. Let there b.
Gods acre in every rural cemetery,
making it bright and beautiful with a
greentsward. Plant weeping trees to
express grief of l)ved ones gone before.
Plant the arbor oits, that always points
upward as a brighter emblem OF the lit,
beyond. Let the ~disgraceful tumbled-
down fences, overgrown with brushes
md weeds, that surround Goods acre.
that are relics of barbarism, be removed.
Let me urge OF every land owner his duty
of planting trees along roaisides, as =
means OF enhancing the value of his
property, as well as adding to the beauty
of the country. l can instance a cir
cumstance:
In ~disposing of a piece Of property in
the beautiful valley OF Capay, in this
county, after showing the party ever the
farm, while on the road, just leaving, !
suddenly turned my team and called the
attention OF the would be-purchaser's to
the beautiful arbor OF black walnut
trees that extended one and II half miles
through the ranch (having planted the
nuts six years previous with my own
hands } The vigorous growth OF the
trees Tho we'd depthiof soil, and aftsr the
trade was consummated, the purchaser
said to me, "Your calling my attention
to those trees caused a decision in my
mind to purchase your property" 1t
was n seventy-fve thousand dollar flrm
hence the value of planting trees. Even
now after a lapse of fourteen years, have
my then neighbors thanked me for
planting those trees along the roadside:
outside of the sentimental question OF
the birds In the lofty tree tops, the
grateful shelter TO man and beast in
winter, the refreshing shade in summer,
there is a grander and more widely
reaching principle in raising trees.
An American traveller Oh AN o;ean
steamer, returning from the old coun-
tries was asked what feature in the old
countries made the most pleasant and
lasting impression on him. He replied
"The love of the people, both rich and
poor, for the beautiful in nature; the
love OF beautiful trees and flowers, both
in public aud in private, as exhibited by
the humble eottager. AMI among the