History of Arbor Day in the U.S.A
Arbor Day is the one festival or celebration which, instead of looking backward and glorifying the heroes and achievements of the past or recounting the praises of present enterprises or…
From: 1872 C.E. To: 1896 C.E.
Location: United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Arbor Day: Its History and Observance. By Nathaniel H. Egleston, 1896.
The first to call attention in this country, in an impressive way, to the value and absolute need of trees—their value not merely on account of their beauty or their adaptation for purposes of ornamental planting and mechanical utility, but for their connection as forests with climatic influences, with the flow of streams, and their consequent connection with the large interests of agriculture and commerce, in short, with the general welfare of all classes of people—was that eminent scholar and wise observer, Mr. George P. Marsh, for many years our worthy representative at the courts of Italy and Turkey. His residence in those older countries was calculated to draw his attention to the subject as it would not have been drawn had he always lived in his native land.
Ours was a remarkably well-wooded country. From Maine to the Gulf and from the Atlantic coast to the Alleghenies stretched an almost continuous forest, which at the beginning of white settlements here and long afterwards was an impediment to agricultural development. The pioneer was obliged to clear a space among the trees to make room in which to cultivate his crops, and it is a significant sign of that early condition of things that the coat of-arms of one of our States bears the emblem of a sturdy yeoman with uplifted ax. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that the people of this country in former time had no very favorable estimate of trees and little appreciation of their value, except for fuel and the supply of timber for house building and certain other uses, or that they were willing that their consumption by the ax should be aided and accelerated by forest fires. Comparatively few persons until a recent period realized the serious inroads which, with a rapidly increasing population, had been made upon our forest resources or apprehended the dangers which were threatening us in the future as the consequences thereof.
In Europe Mr. Marsh found the Governments of Italy and Germany, as well as those of other countries, making active endeavors and at great expense to rehabilitate their forests which had been depleted centuries before, to guard them from depredation and, instead of leaving them to be consumed at the bidding of personal greed or recklessness, cherishing them as among their most precious possessions. He found the forests regarded as the most valuable crop which the ground can produce, and every effort made to stimulate their growth to the utmost. He found schools, of a grade corresponding to our colleges, established for the special purpose of training men for the successful planting and cultivation of forests. He found the growth of trees in masses and their maintenance reduced to a science and the management of the woodlands constituting one of the most important departments of state.
Such discoveries were well calculated to fix his attention upon the very different condition of the forests in his own country, and to convince him that the reckless destruction of them then going on here, if not checked, would bring upon this land the same calamities which had befallen countries of the Old World in past centuries, and from which only the most enlightened nations of Europe are now recovering through the arduous efforts of many decades, and at great pecuniary cost. The result of Mr. Marsh's observations was the publication of a volume entitled "The Earth and Man,'' and that admirable chapter in it on "The woods," to which, more than to any other source perhaps, we are indebted for the awakening of attention here to our destructive treatment of the forests, and the necessity of adopting a different course if we would avert most serious consequences, threatening more than anything else, possibly, our material welfare.
Other thoughtful and observing men at home became aware from time to time that we were wasting our tree heritage, and in one way or another they were urging the necessity of caution and economy in the treatment of the forests. It is remarkable, indeed, that as early as the colonial period some of our States—New Hampshire and New York, for example—became somewhat alarmed by the inroads which were even then being made upon their forests, and made enactments for their protection. This action was exceptional, however, and little was done to draw attention to the rapid and dangerous depletion of our forests and awaken public sentiment on the subject until within the comparatively recent period of which we have just spoken.
For the purpose of securing a supply of timber for naval construction the Government, at the beginning of the present century, purchased certain tracts of live-oak timber, and about twenty-five years later, by an act of Congress, the President was authorized to take measures for their preservation. About the same time the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture offered prizes for forest planting, and thirty years later the State ordered a survey of her timber lands. Thirty years later still, acts began to be passed for the encouragement of timber planting, chiefly in the treeless Western States. The well-known timber-culture act was one of these. It made a free gift of the public lands to the successful planter of forest trees on one-fourth of his entry.
About twenty years ago the subject of forest destruction and its detrimental results came before the American Association for the Advancement of Science for consideration, and as the result of its discussions the association memorialized Congress, asking that measures be taken for the protection of the public timber lands. In consequence of this, a committee of the House of Representatives was appointed for the purpose of considering the establishment of a forestry department of the Government, and two years later the Commissioner of Agriculture was authorized to appoint a forest commissioner, which was the foundation of the present Forestry Division in the Department of Agriculture. The commissioner, the late Dr. F. B. Hough, made protracted inquiries into the condition of the forests in this country and in Europe, and published a voluminous report on the subject, which is altogether the most complete and valuable publication on forestry which has appeared in this country.
It was at about this time, or a few years earlier, that a practical movement was inaugurated by the present Secretary of Agriculture, the Hon. J. Sterling Morton, which has done more for the protection of our forests and the encouragement of tree planting than all our legislation. This was the establishment of Arbor Day, or tree-planting day. It was the happy thought of this pioneer settler on the treeless plains of Nebraska, who knew and felt the value of trees about the home, as well as their importance for the many uses of life, to enlist his neighbors and his fellow settlers throughout the State, by a common impulse, growing out of common wants and feelings, in the work of tree planting on one and the same given day. The wise suggestion was brought before the State board of agriculture in the form of a resolution designating a certain day for the inauguration of the tree-planting movement. The resolution was readily adopted. The appeal to the popular feeling and the popular need was heartily responded to, and it was reported that many millions of trees were planted that year in Nebraska. This successful inauguration of Arbor Day led to its institution the same year by the horticultural society in Iowa, to be followed quickly by its adoption in Minnesota, Ohio, and other Western States.
A few years later Arbor Day assumed a new character and acquired a wider interest with the people as it became connected in its observance with the public schools. This it did for the first time during the sessions of a national forestry convention at Cincinnati in the year 1882. The sessions of the convention were continued through five days, on one of which there was a public parade, civic and military, with a march to Eden Park, where groves were planted and single trees in memory of distinguished men—poets, orators, governors, and others. The school children and their teachers formed a conspicuous feature of the pageant and the planting of the trees was done principally by them. Tree planting thus became a festivity, combining at once pleasure and utility. That Cincinnati observance was an object lesson for the country, as the report of it was published far and wide.
A national forestry association was formed at the time of the Cincinnati convention, and at its meeting in St. Paul the following year a resolution was adopted favoring the observance of Arbor Day by the schools of the country. A standing committee on Arbor Day was also appointed, and such a committee has been appointed at nearly every annual meeting of the association. Wherever since then Arbor Day has been adopted its observance has been connected with the schools, as it has been also in the States where it had been established before. Thus it has become a school festival, as it has also become a national one. It was only what might have been expected, therefore, that at the meeting of the National Education Association, at Saratoga, in July, 1892, when the subject had been brought to its attention by the Hon. B. G. Northrop, the committee to whom it was referred should report as follows:
Your committee reports with pleasure that Arbor Day is now observed in accordance with legislative act, or annual public proclamation, in forty States and Territories. We recommend that the observance be universal, that village and district improvement associations be formed, that memorial trees be planted, and that appropriate means be employed to inspire in pupils and parents the love of beauty and a desire for home and landscape adornment.
Arbor Day is educational in the best and largest sense. By engaging the pupils of the schools in the study of trees, not merely from books but by actual observation and handling of them in their living state, the observing faculties of the pupils are appealed to and cultivated, and their minds are easily led on from the study of trees to that of shrubs and flowering plants and all natural objects. There can be no better training than this. It forms one of the best equipments for success in life in whatever employments one may be engaged, and is a never-failing source of enjoyment. No studies are more wholesome than those of natural objects. They are suggestive of only what is good. They cultivate the sense and love of the beautiful everywhere. They meliorate the nature within us and fit us to be associates with one another, and to become worthy members of society wherever we may be.
And so Arbor Day and its public observance, taken with the studies connected with it, has led on naturally to the formation of town and village improvement societies and various other associations and organizations for the promotion, in one way and another, of the public welfare. The spirit of Arbor Day is benevolent. Its aim is the public good in some form, and it has a wide outlook. There is nothing narrow or selfish about it. If it plants trees, it is not for the benefit of any individual alone, but for all who may see them and have the benefit of them, whether soon or centuries hence. It plants for those who are to come, as well as for those now living.
Arbor Day is the one festival or celebration which, instead of looking backward and glorifying the heroes and achievements of the past or recounting the praises of present enterprises or actors, looks forward and seeks to make a better environment and a better inheritance for the coming generations. Its spirit is hopeful. Its motto is progress. It is ever reaching out for new acquisitions of knowledge, and seeking to impart new and more widespread benefits.
Egleston, Nathaniel H. Arbor Day: Its History and Observance. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1896.
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