26 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



largely a matter of necessity, to be regretted, perhaps, and avoided 

 when possible ; but he would call attention to the fact that where 

 the native timber is cut off and another crop comes in, it is of 

 another kind. Few if any of the old native stock remain. It 

 seems to be one of nature's provisions to give diversity by rotation 

 and diversity of production. 



He thought there was a good deal of sickly sentimentalism, a 

 good deal of humbug in the hue and cry made about the destruc- 

 tion of our timber. The ideas expressed in the oft quoted lines, 

 "Woodman spare that tree," may be very fine, but they are 

 wanting in good, sound sense, certainly in the application generally 

 given to them; for he regarded it not only as right but as a duty 

 to cut off a crop of timber when it is at its prime, as much so as 

 to harvest a crop of wheat or of fruit. The fact is that a large 

 portion of our native forest growth ought to have been cut years 

 ago. A great deal of our timber is depreciating in value, and has 

 been a long time. He had no fears for the future. Coming gen- 

 erations would take care of themselves. Look at the progress 

 being made in every direction. Materials once regarded as value- 

 less for certain purposes, because in their very nature they wholly 

 lacked the quality desired, and even possessed the exact opposite, 

 have been so changed in their character as to adapt them to com- 

 mon use. As an example, see paper and glass, now used for car 

 wheels and building purposes. He has no fears but that the 

 ingenuity of the future would find a way to supply its wants, and 

 believed it was our duty to do the best we can, to make the most 

 of what we have in the present. 



MENTAL AND MORAL INFLUENCE OF HORTL 



CULTURE. 

 J. M. Smith, Green Bay. 



Ladies and Oenilemen : — If some terrible and bloody crime 

 had been committed in the midst of a quiet community, and some 

 one who was likely to know something of the time, place and cir- 

 cumstances in which it originated, and its details were arranged, 

 should tell us that all the plans were devised, and the arrange- 



