88 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tiful swamps left. Some people smile when I speak of the beauty of a 

 swamp. Some of the richest vegetation and the rarest shrubs and plants 

 of our country are in those swamps, and we must see that some of them 

 are saved. It seems that we have a great acreage that has been turned 

 back to the state because the pines have been cut off and the soil was 

 not good for agricultural purposes. Some of that land is perfectly 

 good for ])ark grounds, and the state proposes that this land shall be 

 utilized. They have a system by which they are permitted to exchange 

 lands. I suppose you all know that the land goes back to be a desert 

 unless it has the right treatment. Why not, then, plant those great 

 tracts of forest land, that are not good agricultural land, for forestry 

 purposes and parks, and make valuable and beautiful places of them? 

 The Public Domain proposes to accept this land and to make use of it 

 in this way, and at the coming I^egislature we expect to pass an act 

 providing for State Parks. Please help in the work. We shall then 

 have beautiful trees again, and all the beautiful things that grow nat- 

 urally in our state. 



I^t us, then, begin to plant the roadsides of the districts, and I am 

 sure that then the home lands will also be better planted than they are 

 now. When we are driving through the state, we often make a game 

 of it as to how many homes will have flowers and how many will not. 

 Eight out of every ten will have flowers. This movement will grow, and 

 the whole state will become more beautiful as the interest of the child- 

 ren is attracted to those things. 



We ought 1o offer prizes to the schools that do the best work in this 

 line, perhaps a ])rize for an outfit for a playground. If you have any 

 suggestions along this line, please make them to the managers of the 

 fairs, for we intend to work along with this committee and shall be 

 glad to receive any suggestions you may make. Should the improve- 

 ment (Nunn)iftee be made permanent? That depends upon the neighbor- 

 hood. I think if you find people who are willing to serve on a per- 

 manent committee, it would be a good thing to have them do so. At 

 present a great deal more attention is paid to the cemeteries than to 

 the school yards. T hope before this Society disburses, it will pass some 

 resolution urging the continuance of this movement in our state, toward 

 State Parks and heli)ing the school in beautifying the public grounds 

 and the highways." 



A INfember: I want to register a most emphatic kick against that fool 

 law that the legislature passed for cutting the brush. Fortunately, nature 

 looks after herself and when the road commissioners order someone to 

 cut down the brush, it is not always taken out by the roots and then it 

 will grow again. It is a shame for sometimes this so-called brush is 

 a very fine native shrub, dogwood or some variety of spirea. I w^as 

 born with a sense of beauty. My father came from the forest region 

 of Germany and fortunately I had eleven years under Ossian Simonds 

 of Chicago, and I think we do not have to go to the cities to find beauty. 

 On my own farm I have views that compare favorably with Lincoln 

 Park and I have glorious maple trees on my farm that cannot be equalled 

 in Lincoln Park or any other park in the country. I make the plea 

 here if you want to use the roadside where it is level with your field, 

 use it; but ihere is a whole lot of space, low places, that you cannot 

 cultivate, let those places grow and let them grow wild. We ought to 



