106 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



is that scattereth yet increasetb." They are enterprising, they 

 are prosperous, they are happy. Long may they live to benefit 

 and bless our beloved State of Wisconsin. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of these papers: 

 Mr. Plumb remarked that some regard this fear of a scarcity 

 of timber in the near future as wholly ungrounded. At the 

 La Crosse meeting Senator Price, one of the leading lumbermen, 

 defended his fellow craftsmen, and claimed that they were devel- 

 oping the wealth of the country, instead of impairing its pros- 

 perity : that they were converting the natural products of the soil 

 into material wealth, instead of laying waste, as many charged ; 

 that were this crop not harvested, much of it would soon become 

 worthless, as much of our heavy timber was past its prime al- 

 ready. Our friend here, Mr. Wood, does not regard the question 

 as one of pressing importance, for he has too much timber now. 

 The important consideration with him is how to get rid of it 

 But to a large portion of the country it is a serious question, what 

 shall we do in a short time for our timber? They begin to see 

 the practical bearing of the subject in the growing scarcity and 

 advancing prices, and they look forward with great apprehension, 

 for it will ere long be not so much a question of cost, as of sup- 

 ply at any price. Let a tub or stave, hub and spoke, or a factory 

 for working up wood of almost any kind start up in a locality, 

 and they are springing up all over the country where there is 

 any chance to get their products to market, and in two or three 

 years they will clear oflL' and use up all the timber suitable for 

 their purpose for a circuit of three or four miles, and in as many 

 more years all within reach is gone, and they must close up or 

 move. There is enough of public sentiment on the subject ; they 

 see the danger, and feel the importance of the question, but will 

 not take any extra steps towards remedying it. 



Mr. Wood said that this was a practical question. In many 

 parts of the country they need more timber, and trees should be 

 set and timber be cultivated for economic purposes, but with him 

 there was too much of it. It was a question of more interest to 

 him how to get rid of what he had rather than to set out more. 

 Someone has defined a weed as a plant out of place. Trees were 



