Arbor Day Leaves / A Complete Programme For Arbor Day Observance, Including Readings, Recitations, Music, and General Information

OF THE FORESTRY DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON; AUTHOR OF HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING, ETC., ETC.
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO

A COMPLETE PROGRAMME FOR ARBOR DAY OBSERVANCE, INCLUDING READINGS, RECITATIONS, MUSIC, AND GENERAL INFORMATION
OF THE FORESTRY DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON. AUTHOR OF HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING, ETC.
COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO BOSTON

In preparing the second number of our manual for Arbor Day, we have endeavored to keep in mind the fact that Arbor Day was originally designed not as a mere festival or holiday, a pleasant occasion for children or adults, but to encourage the planting of trees for a serious purpose—the lasting benefit of the country in all its interests. As the poet Whittier has so well said, The wealth, beauty, fertility, and healthfulness of the country largely depend upon the conservation of our forests and the planting of trees. Arbor Day is not a floral festival, except as the trees may offer their bright blossoms for the occasion. In making our selections from authors, therefore, we have restricted ourselves to what they have said about trees, and have endeavored also to choose only such selections as are of high literary character, and so, not only admissible for occasional use but worthy to be learned and carried in memory for life; trees of thought which may be planted in the young minds in connection with Arbor Day, to grow with their growth and be perpetual sources of enjoyment.
To J. Sterling Morton, ex-Governor of Nebraska, and Secretary of Agriculture under President Cleveland, belongs the honor of originating this tree-planting festival, and he is popularly known throughout our whole country as the father of Arbor Day. So well has the day been observed in Nebraska since 1872 that there are now over 700,000 acres of trees in that state planted by human hands.
The successful establishment of the day in Nebraska commended it at once to the people of other states, and it was soon adopted by Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota, and was not long in making its way into Michigan and Ohio.