IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 55 



Iowa, and evil prophets declared that these failures were 

 sufficient evidence that the causes which left the original 

 prairies treeless would operate to keep them so notwith- 

 standing the efforts of man to the contrary. Experience 

 has since shown that trees may be successfully grown in 

 any part of our state, but this is sometimes accomplished 

 at such great comparative cost, and the results are some- 

 times so uncertain, that there are still those who think 

 that tree planting, excepting on a very small scale, cannot 

 be successfully undertaken in this state. 



This raises again a question of profound interest to our 

 people. Not only the material interests of the state, but 

 in a large measure the health and happiness of its citizens, 

 are at stake. If it is true that it is not worth while to 

 try to grow trees in Iowa, then some of our citizens are 

 wasting money, time and energy in the attempt, and 

 the effort to build up pleasant, well-protected, healthful 

 homes in a large part of the state must result in disappoint- 

 ment and disaster. If, on the other hand, trees may be 

 successfully grow^n in our state, — if it can be shown that 

 the obstacles to success in that direction can be overcome, — 

 then, as citizens of the state, we are not doing our duty if 

 we fail to attempt to awaken public conscience to a reali- 

 zation of the fact that we are guilty of a crime against 

 posterity when we permit the splendid opportunities which 

 are now within easy reach to slip by unnoticed and unused. 

 Forests are not made in a day. Whatsoever we do in this 

 direction is largely for posterity's sake, though we our- 

 selves may reap some of the fruits of our labor. 



There is, however, no warrant, either in the results of 

 scientific research or in the practical experience of tree- 

 growers, for the statement that trees cannot be successfully 

 grown in this state. We are on the border-line between 

 the comparatively moist east and the dry west. The con- 

 ditions favorable to the growth of forests are not at their 

 best here, it is true, — neither are they at their worst. The 

 treeless condition of a large part of the state was no doubt 

 due to a combination of causes.* 



♦See writer's discussion of this subject in Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. , Vol. VII, pp. 47 ct scq. 



