ARBOUR DAY.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 8

ARBOUR DAY.

- Arbour day has come and gone, and we ask, What have we done? Like mamy other things at the commencement it was ushered in with a great display of enthusiasm, but after one or two outbursts it has almost died away. This is to be regretted, but I trust that in the near future an interest in the proper celebration of arbour day may be revived^ and something practical in the way of tree-planting done, st> that an interest in trees may be created in our youth, and serve in some measure to protect and to preserve our forests and plantations, and Help to create a taste for the beautiful, and thus many of our country schools and private dwellings would cease to present that appearance of desola,tion and neglect which they now wear. Flowers and trees adorn a few of our rural schoolhouses,, and there an air of cheerfulness pervades the premises. At the same time the most practical means of beautifying the home grounds may be learned. Mr A. Bathgate, in addressing the children on arbour day at "the High Street School, Dunedin, said that it was better to plant one tree well and look after it, than to plant a dozen, or a hundred and never to think of them again except to wonder why they had not grown. This neglect to attend to those planted has resulted in few of them thriving, and so arbour day is declared by many to be a failure. However, let us take a lesson from our past failures, take up the good work again, and make it a success by taking Mr. Bathgate's "advice — plant fewer trees, 01 as many as can be well attended to, and good l-esults will follow* *

— J. GEBBIE.

Public Gardens, Oamaru.