Page:Oklahoma Arbor and Bird Day, Friday, March Twelfth, 1909.pdf/13

Rh We are taught to value the blessings of life by antithesis. When we are sick we learn to value health; when blind we long to experience the delightful sense of sight; when deaf, we yearn for the music we loved to hear; when in impoverished circumstances physically, we hope for the good things of this world and a comfortable existence. So



Courtesy Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine. the utter treelessness of these vast plains three or four score years ago created a longing in the hearts of the pioneers for the grand forests whence they had emerged and taught them, by contrast, the beauty and utility of woodlands. Thus, out from a realizing sense of the total lack of trees came the inspiration for an anniversary devoted to the planting of trees on these monotonous plains, until today Nebraska stands among the foremost in practical forestry of all the states in the Union.

The denudation of the woodlands of the United States was the cause of such concern and discussion among forestry associations and practical foresters for some time prior to the year 1872, but on January