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I can conceive of no more worthy, more beautiful nor attractive 

 memorial than a tree dedicated to the Father of our Country, some- 

 thing which will grow in size, in beauty and in productivity as the 

 years roll by. As foresters would remind you, ladies and gentlemen, 

 the Father of our Country served his apprenticeship long before he 

 became a land owner and patriarch on those broad Virginia acres. 

 The Father of our Country started out in life as a forester and sur- 

 veyor. You may remember that he piloted, or was to be one of the 

 pilots of Braddock's expedition, having gained his knowledge of the 

 woods through his early life as a young surveyor in the forests of 

 Virginia. 



There are in New York state approximately fourteen million 

 acres better suited to tree crop production than to field crop produc- 

 tion. Here in the northeastern corner of the United States, where 

 our great centers of population are found, we have in the state of 

 Maine seventy per cent, suited to tree crop production but unsuited 

 to tillage; we have similar conditions in Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut. Throughout this northeastern section of the country we 

 have a tree soil domain which will grow trees and which can't be 

 plowed with profit. All who are interested in the production of 

 trees for whatever purpose should realize that this nation cannot 

 permanently prosper unless every acre of its land is put to its best 

 permanent use. 



I think that you will agree with me that it requires no prophetic 

 eye to see the day not far distant when we will have, stretching from 

 the Island of Manhattan up to where Albany now stands, one vast 

 series of teeming cities with suburb touching suburb. The problem 

 then will be how to feed this multitude. Developments in Russia 

 show that, no matter how idealistic one's theory of government may 

 be, food, in the last analysis, is the thing which makes or breaks a 

 nation. 



Those of you who have studied some of the interpreters of 

 early Scripture will remember, perhaps, that the Garden of Eden 

 was in reality an oasis of trees in the great valley of Mesapotamia, 

 and even today "garden" in the oriental term means a group of trees. 

 It has been proven by experience in these different tropical realms 

 that where tree production is biggest and nuts and other products 

 are grown under intensive cultivation, an acre will produce more 

 food than where grazing is practiced. I spent a very pleasant year 

 in California and saw some of the operations of the California nut 

 growers, where they are growing English walnuts on a most ex- 

 tensive scale. I believe I will be making no false statement when 

 I say that those areas in southern California which are growing nuts 

 produce more in fats, proteins and calories for the maintenance of 

 the health and strength of the human race than do the acres which 

 are given up to the growing of animal crops. 



So I applaud the idea of planting a tree in the memory of the 

 Father of his Country. I believe I belong to your group, at least 



