"Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future." - Julius Sterling Morton

by Beth Barrett.[caption id="attachment_16567" align="alignnone" width="643"]

Arbor Day (123rf.com)[/caption]At a recent council meeting, Burien City Council issued an Arbor Day Proclamation, recognizing this Friday, April 26. On Arbor Day, citizens are encouraged to plant trees, and neighborhoods often organize tree-planting and litter-collecting events around the day to beautify the area. Trees are frequently grown in memory of a loved one. The founder of Arbor Day, however, planted out of necessity. Julius Sterling Morton was born in Adams, New York, in 1832 and married in 1854 in Detroit. Adventuresome, he headed west with his bride, Caroline Joy French, to the wilds of Nebraska Territory. They settled on a "flat stretch of desolate plain," a 150 treeless acre ranch. Morton immediately began planting thousands of trees on their barren homestead. Julius and Caroline, lovers of nature, grew an apple orchard, peach, plum, pear tree, cottonwoods, evergreens, and beeches. Shrubs and flowers soon filled the homestead. As editor of the state's first newspaper, Morton utilized his forum to broadcast agriculture advice to his readership. He encouraged them to plant trees and try new crops. He educated his avid readers on the importance of trees, explaining the benefits: needed windbreaks, keeping the soil in place, providing fuel and building materials, and shading from the scorching summer sun.In 1858, he served as secretary and acting governor of the Nebraska Territory. Morton proposed a day to encourage all Nebraskans to plant trees, and on the first Arbor Day observed in Nebraska City in 1872, the citizens planted an estimated one million trees.Soon after, in 1885, Arbor Day was adopted as a legal state holiday. Over the next 20 years, every American state except Delaware celebrated the holiday. Delaware eventually joined in.Journalist and politician Morton was later appointed US Secretary of Agriculture by President Grover Cleveland in 1893. Morton died on April 27, 1902, at 70, even though he had envisioned the trees he would be planting that spring.[caption id="attachment_16568" align="aligncenter" width="259"]

The World of Trees by Hugh Johnson (image kcls.org)[/caption]If you share Morton's enthusiasm for planting trees, you might want to browse Hugh Johnson's illustrated compendium of trees, "The World of Trees." In this massive tome, Johnson details the beauty, characteristics, and diversity of tree families worldwide. Johnson's book is available through the King County Library System.This Arbor Day, become a dendrophile, "a lover of trees and forests." Observe the magnificence, beauty, and strength of trees. Notice trees in your neighborhood and join the effort to beautify Burien. Happy Arbor Day,Beth

And since it is also poetry month... here is an added bonus!

by Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896)

The Heart of the Tree

What does he plant who plants a tree?He plants a friend of sun and sky;He plants the flag of breezes free;The shaft of beauty, towering high;He plants a home to heaven anigh;For song and mother-croon of birdIn hushed and happy twilight heard—The treble of heaven's harmony—These things he plants who plants a tree.What does he plant who plants a tree?He plants cool shade and tender rain,And seed and bud of days to be,And years that fade and flush again;He plants the glory of the plain;He plants the forest's heritage;The harvest of a coming age;The joy that unborn eyes shall see—These things he plants who plants a tree.What does he plant who plants a tree?He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,In love of home and loyaltyAnd far-cast thought of civic good—His blessings on the neighborhood,Who in the hollow of His handHolds all the growth of all our land—A nation's growth from sea to seaStirs in his heart who plants a tree.