150 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for the discussion of questions of vital importance to the American people, and 

 of special interest to those of you dwelling on the border-land of this great 

 treeless waste. It is with pride that I call your attention to some of the results 

 that have followed our annual discussions during the short life of our congress,, 

 and the rapid growth and spread of favorable forestry sentiment throughout 

 the country. In a Republic like ours, where laws are expected to be the ex- 

 pression of the people's will, it is all important that the subject to which these 

 laws relate should be understood by the masses interested in them, for without 

 such popular understanding or knowledge the sovereign citizen will fail to obey 

 or enforce them. Public discussions by intelligent, patriotic citizens, in gath- 

 erings like this, are powerful engines in the promotion of such a cause as ours. 



LOOKING FOR RKSULTS. 



And now what can we hope from this Denver meeting? What results can 

 we look for as a result of careful study and long journeying? Shall your 

 mountain forests be more respected, their protection against wicked de- 

 struction become more secure? The special object of this meeting is to bring 

 before the people of the great West such a presentation of the questions directly 

 arising from the peculiar conditions as will tend most surely to their intelligent 

 consideration and eventual solution. 



You will be told with scientific assurance that by this means your cultivated 

 fields on the eastern borders of the Kocky Mountains shall extend eastward 

 across the desert waste until they meet the well watered fields on the Kansas 

 and Nebraska borders. This may be but a dream of the enthusiastic forester, 

 yet is a dream that once realized will open a now worthless territory to the 

 incoming settlers of an extent and productiveness sufficient to support 50,000,000 

 of people. 



You will be told of the amount of forest product required in the working of 

 your numerous mines; of the rapidity with which your forest areas are being 

 diminished, and of the increased cost of the production of your precious metals 

 in consequence of this coming dearth. 



ARBOR DAY. 



In 1882 only three States had officially recognized the importance of Arbor 

 Day. Now fifteen States of the Union annually invite their citizens, through 

 the Governor's proclamation, to do something toward repairing their wasted 

 forests. There is no more important factor in popular education than Arbor 

 Day celebration, and it seems to me incumbent upon this congress to foster 

 and encourage it in all reasonable and practical ways until every State and 

 Territory of the Union, and every Province of Canada, shall establish and per- 

 •petuate it throughout their borders. The enormous annual loss caused by for- 

 est fires demands our attention. In the census year ending in June, 1880, the 

 fires destroyed, in Colorado alone, 113,820 acres of her forests, valued at $935,- 

 500 ; in Montana, 88,000 acres, valued at 11,128,000 ; in California, 356,815 

 acres, valued at $440,780; in New York, 149,491 acres, valued at $1,210,785, 

 and in the whole United States, 10,274,000 acres with an estimated value of 

 $25,482,250. In view of these alarming figures would it not be wise for the 

 State government to adopt adequate measures for the sure prevention of these 

 fires, and to appropriate all money necessary to effectually carry out such 

 measures ? 



