Arbor Day Proclamation

In aecordance with established usage, I hereby designóte Thursday, April 30, 1891, to be observed as Arbor Dsy. I earnestly appeal to all our people to observe the day, or a portion thereof, by the planting of trees, vinea and shrubbery along the highways, in the eemeteries, and about their homes. To tliose who bear in mind the needs of the generations to come, as well as of the living, the rapid destruction of our forests and the diminished supply of timber present a grave problem. "We who enjoy the present should eee to it tliat we use only so much of the produits of the earth as is neoessary for our wants, and we owe it to posterity to replace, so far as we can, what we are compelled to borrow from the resources of nature. Along the highways in many parts of the state the axe has been busy with the oak and elm, and the traveler finds scant shelter from the summer sun. He whose necessity compels him to destroy a shade tree for firewood can at least plant an acorn or a sapling in return. Shrubbery, vines, flowers and fruit trees are blessings which all mankind enjoy ; and each one can do something to render them more abundant and make the world more pleasant for himself and his fellows. Let those who are looked to for instruction from the pulpit, the schoolhouse and through the press, enforce the simple lesson which the occasion suggests. Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at the capitol in Lansing, this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.