ARBOR

DAY  , the name applied in the United States of America to a day appointed for the public planting of trees (see ARBOUR) . Originating, or at least being first successfully put into operation, in Nebraska in 1872 through the instrumentality of J . Sterling Morton, then president of the state Board of Agriculture, it received the official sanction of the state by the proclamation of Governor R . W . Furnas in 1874 and by the enactment in 1885 of a law establishing it as a legal holiday in Nebraska . The movement spread rapidly throughout the United States until with hardly an exception every state and territory celebrates such a day either as a legal or a school holiday . The time of celebration varies in different states—sometimes even in different localities in the same state--but April or early May is the rule in the northern states, and February, January and December are the months in various southern states . A like practice has been introduced in New Zealand . See N . H . Egleston, Arbor Day : Its History and Observance (Washington, 1896), Robert W . Furnas, Arbor Day (Lincoln, Neb., 1888), and R .

H . Schauffier (ed.), Arbor Day (New

York, 1909) .