DISCUSSION. I'JT 



)io farms. It is true those living in towns who read about conservation 

 are oftentimes more vitally interested than the farmers themselves. It 

 is true the farmers are too apt to plod along in the same old way and 

 plan to reap their profits for their work every year. It used to be 

 hard to get a man to plant alfalfa and clover because they could not 

 reap a profit the year they sowed it. They would not wait even two 

 or three years. Thtv are sometimes very short sighted, too, in looking 

 forward to their owi: good. 



In the town, peopk are more apt to be theoretic in regard to these 

 matters, and I see no reason why in almost any village of ihe second 

 class you can not gather from $2,000 to $5,000 profit. Let each man 

 take such an amount of stock as he pleased. Let the tract be pur- 

 chased and planted just as they have in many places put their thousands 

 of dollars in eucalyptus and catalpa projects. I realize that if you had 

 a project like that its chimerical value is much more attractive to men 

 than the ordinary projects which are all figured right at home. I have 

 watched men in my community who refused to take stock in a home 

 telephone company that pays eight per cent dividends and has for the 

 last seven or eight years, who buy eucalyptus, coal mining and gold 

 mining stock and lose money. But there ought to be a few sensible 

 men left who would figure out a forestry proposition and say I will 

 put in $50 or $100 on this experiment, and we will demonstrate to the 

 people of this state, and educate the farmers, that it pays to plant trees 

 for commercial profit. The benefit in the main, in the towns would be 

 the same incidental benefits I have mentioned. Who does not estimate 

 a community as he rides through the country on the cars or in his 

 automobile by the tree growth in it? When you find a growth of 

 trees along the road here and there you think what a fine country it is, 

 the people are enjoying life there, and it would be pleasant to live there; 

 it looks like home. That is what these projects mean instantly as you 

 view them. I do not know that any new organization is necessary, yet 

 I have thought in my own community that if I had a little more leisure 

 than I have I would see if I could not organize an association, and 

 we would buy a tract of land and plant it to trees and then we would 

 send out to the farmers and say to them, here is a pledge we want you 

 to sign. "How many of you will pledge himself to plant ten acres of 

 trees — one acre each year for ten years?" and if they would not plant 

 one acre for ten years then one acre for five years, and get these pledges, 

 get 100 men in one county; and when you get 100 to do that they will 

 talk it to their neighbors, that means 500 that will do that. It runs 

 throughout the whole community, it spreads and is a good example. 



So I come back at the end where I started at the beginning, and the 

 thing to do is not to theorize, but to be practical and plant trees and 

 do it now. 



DISCUSSION. 



Chairman: I am sure we have been delightfully entertained and 

 bave listened with a gi'eat deal of interest to this splendid address on 



