THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XI. 699 



ORNAMENTAL AND FOREST TREES FOR PROTECTION. 



W. H. Lewis, before the Madison County Farmers' Institute. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Madison County Farmers Institute: The 

 subject, "Ornamental and Forest Trees for Protection," has been assigned 

 me for such consideration as I may be able to give it. 



In the haste which the very limited time for making arrangements 

 for this institute compelled, the labor of making such preparation falling 

 upon those — perhaps I had best say upon one — whose time was fully 

 occupied by duties that could not be laid aside or postponed, and the whole 

 matter new, resort was had as the only assistance that was available, to a 

 list of topics that had been used at some farmers' institute previously 

 held in this state. Like some other ready made articles it does not seem 

 to fit my ideas very well and consequently my remarks may not fit the 

 topic. 



I shall expect that my views on this subject will agree with those of 

 very few, if indeed of any of you — not because I propose to present im- 

 proper or unreasonable views of the topic, nor because I assume to a 

 superior or complete knowledge of the subject, but because you have 

 each of you, your own personality and your own views, and those person- 

 alities and views differ with mine. If the expression by me of views not 

 agreeing with your views and opinions, impels you to express your views 

 on the subject, I shall think I have achieved a success. 



Wisdom — valuable knowledge on any subject — is not acquired by un- 

 hesitatingly and unthinkingly accepting every statement which a speaker 

 may make, even if that speaker is supposed to have superior knowledge 

 of the topic a view which is specifically disclaimed in this case. An os- 

 trich catches and swallows everything thrown to it — food, stones, or iron 

 alike. An Iowa squirrel rapidly picks up every nut he comes to, but sit- 

 ting at the door of his house, he carefully examines each one, in cases 

 of doubt weighs it with each paw, and if he mys it away in his store for 

 winter, it is because he knows it to be a good one. One of the homely 

 philosophers of our time has said, "It is better to only know a few things 

 than to know a great many things that are not so." 



The topic seems to be limited to the protective feature of the value 

 of trees. Protection seems at this time to be an absorbing topic of con- 

 sideration with the men in the public eye, so I had best, in sympathy witu 

 the tendency of the times speak on protection. If we could get some way 

 to protect our corn crop from the injurious winds, it would save for us 

 a vast sum of money; indeed I am confident that wind is the cause or 

 more injury to our corn than any other thing. Hot winds at tasselling 

 time prevent proper fertilization and strong winds at filling and ripening 

 time loosen the roots and make light, chaffy grain, and winds at other 

 times work much harm to the growing crop. 



Quite a variety of trees have been used for shelter, or as the term in 

 common use has it — for windbreaks. The change that has come over this 

 prairie region by reason of tree planting is very great. Forty years ago 



