452 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



average farmer will devote to wind-breaks, which will be equal to one-third 

 of our natural forests before they were removed. 



TV.e money value of this problem has hardly been taken into account by 

 our people. With the facilities of railroads and navigation our wants are 

 yet largely supplied from other localities at largely increased cost. But what 

 of the supply in a few years more. Who has the prescience to compute the 

 value of a thousand feet of common lumber a third of a century hence, when 

 it is conceded by our best statisticians, our lumbermen and all interested in 

 the products of the forests that in twenty-five years more the entire visible 

 supply to the north of us will be exhausted. 



When we take into the account our fast increasing population and the 

 necessity for houses to shelter them and barns to protect their stock and pro- 

 ducts, we may well wonder where it will come from, what it will cost, and 

 the question may and will be often propounded by those coming after us: 

 *' Why was it the jDioneers of our land so indiscriminately slaughtered their 

 forests, depriving future generations of untold blessings, and bringing upon 

 them by so doing the scourge in nature that follows in the wake of inharmo- 

 nious adjustment of the forces that make the highway of life's journey invit- 

 ing to the senses, and the fields of the husbandman to yield of the fruits 

 thereof an hundredfold?" If the mistakes and errors that we have enumer- 

 ated are based on fact, sustained by scientific conclusions, it is pertinent to 

 inquire if there is a remedy, and if so how shall it be applied. I think you 

 will all agree with me that a perfect remedy is out of the question. 

 While we may, in a measure, restore our small timber for uses on the farm 

 and for wind-breaks, our work in this direction will contribute to an equaliza- 

 tion of the temperature of the seasons, if on a scale covering a third of the 

 the surface, <jr nearly that. But we can never restore those magnificent, 

 heaven-towering deciduous trees of which the oak, the elm, the linden and 

 magnolia are conspicuous examples, nor can we return to their native habitat 

 the beautiful conifers, whose heads pierced the clouds and through their 

 branches made soughing lullabys of the Dakota winds on their journey to the 

 sea. We can imitate them all, but they are only wind-breaks at their best. 

 A pertinent inquiry presents itself in conclusion: Can the farmers of our 

 beautiful State be made to see that it is for their interest to set aside a por- 

 tion of their acres, say a fourth, and cultivate it with our quickest growing 

 trees native to the soil and climate? 



In the solution of this inquiry lies the whole secret of success; if answered 

 in the affirmative the work of restoration is properly begun; if not, further 

 agitation becomes necessary. Agitation, did I tay? Yes, this has been and 

 is now the great Archimedian lever which changes nations, communities and 

 peoples ; and who better prepared to direct this force than the State Horti- 

 cultural Society. Success, gentlemen, to your noble undertaking in restor- 

 ing our country to its native beauty and fertility. 



In continuance of the discussion the secretary read the following interest- 

 ing letter giving 



