iNblAiSTA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 259 



cinders came in in immense quantities, and most of them landed in my 

 lap, and my ears and eyes and all around, and after a time a gust of wind 

 came and took some of the cinders in the lady's face. She immediately 

 shut the window. I said, "Thank you," and she was mad. (Laughter.) 

 It illustrates that sometimes you can not assume to discuss a question 

 with people that they ought to have discussed, that they are unwilling 

 you should discuss. That has been oftentimes the case with the forestry 

 question. 



Some years ago, when I was engaged in making programs for farmers' 

 institutes, I placed on one program a topic entitled "Mules." The man 

 who was chosen for the topic seemed to think it was put on the program 

 simply to sandwich in something to give a little life to the program, and 

 he treated it jocularly, and made those who listened to him laugh. You 

 know you might make a lot of fun of mules, if you wished to, for the pur- 

 pose of entertaining people; but I had something else in view besides 

 to sandwich in a jocular address. I had a man follow him, in a discussion, 

 who knew something about mules, and who gave some sharp, keen advice 

 in connection with the raising of mules. The object was, that while the 

 audience, as a whole, thought Garfield was a queer fellow to put "Mules" 

 on the program, that even though one man failed on good ground, some- 

 body would learn something. The other day I met a man on the street, 

 and he said, "Garfield, do you remember the mule discussion we had about 

 twelve years ago, in Michigan?" I said, "Yes." He said, "That was the 

 making of me. I immediately went north and began raising mules, and it 

 has been a most profitable business; I have been raising mules ever since 

 then, and I shall continue to raise mules, and that discussion was the 

 cause of it." 



So, in discussing the forestry question, people generally don't think 

 it is an important question; that it has been put on the program to fill in, 

 perhaps to entertain for awhile; that it has just been sandwiched in, sim- 

 ply because people have not felt the necessity of discussing along the for- 

 estry line. After all, I usually keep availing myself of every opportunity 

 I can to say a word along forestry lines. I began it fifteen years ago, 

 and as long as there is moisture enough in my mouth to allow me, I shall 

 continue talking, because I believe that it is today one of the most im- 

 portant problems that confronts the agriculturist of the Middle West. Peo- 

 ple do not take to a new thing until in some way they are pinched to it, 

 and we are now getting to where we feel the pinch in connection with the 

 loss of our forests. 



I did not want to take too much of your time in one discussion, so I 

 sat down to a stenographer and dictated what I have to say, that I might 

 tell you more in fewer words, and that I might not omit some things which 

 I would desire to say, and I will take just seventeen minutes' time to read 

 this paper, and the rest of the time will be given to the discussion, which 

 I consider the most important part of the topic. I believe we get more 



