Arbor Day

a day set apart to encourage the voluntary planting of trees by the people. The custom was inaugurated by the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture in 1874, which recommended that the second Wednesday in April annually be designated as Arbor Day, and that all public school children should be urged to observe it by setting out young trees. The custom has since been extended, till now nearly every State and Territory in the country has set apart one day by legislative enactment or otherwise, for this purpose; several of the States making the day a legal holiday,. others making it a school holiday. Arbor Vitae (lit. ‘tree of life’), the name of several coniferous trees of the genus Thuja, allied to the cypre , with flattened branchlets, and small imbricated or scale-like leaves. The common Arbor Vite (Thuja occidental is) is a native of North America, where it grows to the height of 40 or 50 feet. The young twigs have an agreeable balsamic smell.