Show ARBOR DAY ITS FOUNDER Remarkable Spread of the Tree Planting Movement Which Began in 1872 Correspondence ol THE HsnAU WASHINGTON March 28The institution institu-tion of Arbor Day proposed by the Hon J Sterling Morton of Nebraska now secretary of agriculture in Mr Clevej lands cabinet has reached its majority J so to speak Twentyone years ago or more specifically on January 4 1872 Mr Morton introduced and the Nebraska state board of agriculture passed a resolution 1 reso-lution urging the people of that state to j I plant trees on Wednesday the 10th of the following April The board supported its resolution with offers of premiums for 1 the largest number oi trees properly II planted in any one county and by any one I person The resolution was of course I not mandatory nor had it the support of any action by the legislature but the people of Nebraska responded by plant I ng on the day indicated more than 1000 003 trees I I The outcome of Mr Mortons resolution resolu-tion has been perhaps the most widespread wide-spread movement that has resulted from the action of an agricultural board The people voluntarily observed the day in 183 and Governor Eobort W Furnas in iSsTi made official proclamation recommending I recom-mending to the people that they again I observe the day and petition the state leg islrture to make it a legal holiday For the next eleven years the inhabitants of Nebraska celebrated Arbor daywith constantly con-stantly increasing interest but it was not until 18S5 that the legislature took official action in the matter Then the date was j I changed to April 22 and the occasion made a legal holiday j Lone before this however other states and especially those in the central arid region had followed Nebraskas example in naming a public Arbor day most of them by direct legislative enactment i Thence the interest spread east west i north and south so that by the time Ne braskas tardy legislature had seconded the governors and the board of agnoul lure millions of new trees were growing in widely sundered regions Secretary Morton quotes exGovernor Fnrnas now secretary of the state board of agrionl ture as estimating that since the establishment estab-lishment of Arbor Day there have been planted on that anniversary in Nebraska alone 43000000 trees ExGovernor Furnas himself writes Since the inauguration in-auguration of the day in this state it has been instrumental in planting trees on s our naturally treeless prairies numbering j into the billions Nearly all the states iu the Union have adopted it In foreign I countries England France Germany and Scotland have followed The work of tree planting inspired by the existence of Arbor Day is simply wonderful The literature of Arbor day throughout the world has grown lmos into a library Pamphlets newspaper articles speeches and lectures upon the subject have been published by hundreds Experts have I studied the arboreal n ° eds of many states I and minute instructions as to the best 1 trees to plant methods of planting and the best time to plant have been issued iu nearly every state and territory The friends of tree anting in Nebraska took I the trouble five years ago to commemorate commemo-rate the institution of Arbor day by issuing issu-ing a bound volume giving a history of the movement up to that time An interesting inter-esting portrait of Mr Morton forms the frontispiece of the work and to him the book is dedicated Jamesltussell Lowell George William Curtis George Baker John Boyle OEeilley John Burroughs Edward Everett Hate and Thomas F Bayaid contributed to the volume of letters let-ters In praise of Arbor day and Edith M Thomas and Edmund Clarence Stedman rote poems for the work Up to that time Nebraska had planted more than 25JCOO 000 trees and the aggregate planted throughout the United States had reached a number that baffles the imagination imagi-nation Most of the states and territories now celebrate Arbor Day in April In some parts of the country this is too early in the season In the mountainous region of Colorado for example it is practically impossible to plant trees before May because be-cause of the deep snows and hard frosts Several states have altered the date of Arbor Day upon finding that it fell too early to suit climatic conditions Many states provide for specIal observance or Arbor Day m the schools and the planting of class trees by college clasEes an ancient custom has been revived and extended ex-tended All literature has been ransacked for appropriate poems to be recited and songs to be sung as part of the ceremonial ofArbor Day This year will see probably 40000000 trees planted on the several anniversaries an-niversaries throughout the union Already Al-ready Nebraskas newly planted trees would form a dense forest covering at least 400 square miles While the movement has thus spread far beyond the bounds of Nebraska the interest of Nebraskans in Arbor Day continues con-tinues to be a matter of special pride Several of the most active in the early Arbor Day movement have adopted emblematic em-blematic devices for their letter heads byway by-way of commemorating the annivesrary Secretary Morton whoso home Arbor Lodge near Nebraska City is on the farm he originally settled upon when he first went to Nebraska more than thirty years ago has for his > letter head a green trees standing in a green sward over a scroll bearing the motto Plant Trees FxGovernor Furnas baa for a letter head a somewhat similar tree and sward with Forest Park Place the name of his homestead over the emblem his own name beneath Mr Furnas appropriately appropri-ately uses green ink on his typewriter apiece a-piece of consistency that Secretary Morton Mor-ton has not thought it worth while to follow EDWARD N VAILANDIGHAH |