Arbor Day
a day set apart for planting trees. The first designation of a public day for tree planting was brought about in Nebraska in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, afterwards United States commissioner of agriculture. In 1885 the legislature of that state designated April 22, Mr. Morton's birthday, as a legal holiday, to be observed, especially by school children, as an arbor day for the planting of trees. Other states have followed this excellent example, until only one or two states have failed to set apart an arbor day. The date depends of course on the climate. In some states the exact date is left to be fixed from year to year by proclamation of the governor. Texas and Alabama, having an early spring, have designated February 22, or Washington's birthday, for tree planting. Georgia takes a day in December, and Florida in February. West Virginia sets aside a day in the autumn and another in the spring. The more northerly states have adopted a date in May. The following is a full list of arbor days. It affords an interesting study in climate:
Arizona--Friday following first day of April, also Friday following first day of February.
Arkansas--First Saturday in March.
California--Observed by separate counties, but not generally.
Colorado--Third Friday in April.
Connecticut--Date fixed by governor, last Friday in April or first in May.
Delaware--Date fixed by governor, usually in April.
District of Columbia--Not observed.
Florida--First Friday in February.
Georgia--First Friday in December.
Idaho--Last Monday in April.
Illinois--Date fixed by governor and superintendent of public instruction.
Indiana--Last Friday in October.
Iowa--Date fixed by governor.
Kansas--Date fixed by governor.
Kentucky--Not regularly observed.
Maine--Date fixed by governor, usually early in May.
Maryland--In April; date fixed by governor.
Massachusetts--Last Saturday in April.
Michigan--Last Friday in April.
Minnesota--Date fixed by governor; usually last of April or first of May.
Mississippi--December 10.
Missouri--Friday after first Tuesday in April.
Montana--Second Tuesday in May.
Nebraska--April 22.
Nevada--Date fixed by governor, usually in April.
New Hampshire--No date fixed, usually in May.
New Jersey--Date fixed by governor, usually third Friday in April.
New Mexico--Second Friday in March.
New York--Friday after first of May.
North Carolina--October 12 usually observed.
North Dakota--First Friday in May.
Ohio--Second or third Friday in April.
Oklahoma--Second Friday in April.
Oregon--Second Friday in April.
Pennsylvania--In October; date fixed by superintendent of instruction.
Rhode Island--Second Friday in May.
South Carolina--Third Friday in November.
South Dakota--Date fixed by governor.
Tennessee--Date fixed annually in November.
Texas--February 22.
Utah--April 15.
Vermont--Date fixed by governor, latter part of April or first of May.
Virginia--Not regularly observed.
Washington--Irregularly observed; date set by governor; different dates east and west of the Cascades.
West Virginia--Third Friday in April and third Friday in November.
Wisconsin--Date fixed by governor.
Wyoming--Date fixed by governor.
Arbor Vitae (tree of life), a small evergreen, coniferous tree, from ten to fifty feet high. Arbor vitae is related closely to cedar and, in fact, is sometimes, though incorrectly, called white cedar. The spray of the arbor vitae is very flat and two-ranked. This evergreen is a favorite in dooryards. The native home of the common species is in swamps and on cool rocky shores from New Brunswick to Pennsylvania, along the mountains to North Carolina, and westward to northeastern Minnesota. To succeed in dooryards, arbor vitae must be mulched heavily with chips, and even then it is apt to winter-kill. Five species occur in North America and Asia out of which gardeners have succeeded, so they say, in developing fifty varieties. An oil is obtained from the twigs by distillation. The wood of the stem is soft and light, but tough and durable, and bears exposure to the weather very well. In Great Britain it is planted as an ornamental tree, but it does not grow so well as in America. An arbor vitae, a native of China and Japan, is also used for ornamental purposes in Europe, but is more sensitive to cold than is the American species. Hedges of arbor vitae are unsurpassed for beauty. See Conifer