98 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



made unprofitable, in comparison with the rich western prairies, 

 is now suffered to grow up to timber. In the great treeless regions 

 of the West different motives are at work. The pressing neces- 

 sity for immediate protection against wind, as well as the great 

 difficalty of procuring fuel, has led state legislatures to encourage 

 the planting of tree belts and groves by liberal grants of land, by 

 remission of taxes and payment of bounties. Comparatively 

 nothing has been done to check the rapid destruction of existing 

 forests, or to enforce economic methods in their use. In 1874, an 

 attempt was made to secure national legislation on the subject. 

 The American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 presented a memorial to congress, which was made the basis of a 

 bill providing for the appointment of a commissioner of forestry, 

 whose duty it should be to inquire into the destruction of timber, 

 and the means necessary for its preservation. This bill did not 

 become a law. 



The problem is, in this country, an exceptionally diflficult one. 

 No one can gainsay the necessity for an immediate general awak- 

 ening on the subject. Within the lifetime of a generation the re- 

 sources of the present timber growing states must be exhausted. 

 There now remains in the United States but one vast tract of 

 timber yet untouched — that of Oregon and Washington territo- 

 ries. The secondary consequences of forest destruction will be 

 suff'ered by those who are now children, unless something be done 

 to prevent our following in the fatal footsteps of other nations. 

 But the nature of our general government precludes national leg- 

 islation such as is relied upon in Europe. Neither can we depend 

 upon state action, since private ownership is and must ever be the 

 rule, and we would not tolerate, much less do we desire such 

 interference with indvidual liberty as the paternal gov- 

 ernments of Europe exercise. Evidently our sole reliance is 

 upon such motives as appeal to individuals. Of these the most 

 powerful is self interest. Let it be proved that it pays a man to 

 preserve his wood land, or to plant out trees for profit, and the 

 future of our forest supply is secure. Two things seem to make 

 this proof impossible ; if it requires fifty years to make a forest 

 crop, it will be hard to make a farmer believe that such a crop 



