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could not leave, as we shall be obliged to do this evening, without taking an opportunity 

 of expressing our thanks. 



" It has been a serious problem with us how to interest the general public in the 

 subject of forestry, so as to secure the preservation of what yet remains, and the replant- 

 ing of places that have been needlessly denuded of trees. But you have taught us a lesson 

 we shall strive to learn to our profit. Yesterday will not soon be forgotten by us. You 

 have brought out your senators, legislators, governors, lawyers, clergymen, merchants, 

 and artizans, your wealth and beauty, to celebrate the planting of trees and lend their 

 influence to the promotion of the objects of your association. rv— •*^. 



" We thank you also that you propose to hold your next meeting within our Dominion. 

 We shall be glad to welcome you and to show our gratitude by our works on that occa- 

 sion. I know that the residents of Montreal will exert themselves to make your sojourn 

 with us pleasant, and will give you a most hearty welcome." 



The day was fully occupied in the reading and discussion of many very interesting 

 and valuable papers on the relation of forests to water supply, the profits of durable trees 

 the insect enemies of trees, etc. 



The Forestry Congress adopted a resolution, with instructions that the same be for- 

 warded to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

 requesting the Congress of the United States to establish at the several agricultural 

 Institutions, both state and national, experimental forestry stations, to be conducted on 

 the same general principles as adopted in Germany. 



A committee was appointed to report at the next meeting upon the practicability of 

 securing the appointment by the respective states of Forestry Commissioners ; such com- 

 mittee to consist of Dr. F. B. Hough, Cassius M. Clay, Dr. J. A. Warder, Wm. R. Lazenby, 

 Wm. J. Beal, Prof. Jas. F. Stafford, and C. S. Sargent. 



Also a committee composed of Prof. Mohr, Wm. Little, Horace Wilson, 0. N, Egles- 

 ton, Henry C. Signer, and R. C. Kudzie, to report upon practical measures to prevent 

 the continued destruction of forests by fire, and the inroads of cattle. 



In the afternoon some of the delegates attended at Lincoln Park to participate in 

 the tree-planting exercises there. On this occasion Mr. Emil Rothe delivered an address 

 so full of instruction and timely warning, that we here present it for your perusal. He said : 



" Nature is the enemy as well as the friend and nurse of man. Every progress in 

 culture and toward comfort is the result of man's combat against wild nature. His first 

 elevation over the animal, the construction of a dwelling better than a cavern or a hollow 

 tree and the procurement of the most primitive clothing, necessitates destruction of vege- 

 table and animal life. The establishment of even the rudest home requires the felling of 

 trees, or at least the cutting or breaking off of branches, and agriculture commences with 

 destruction of the original vegetation and with tearing up the virgin soil. In the struggle 

 with nature the physical and mental qualities of man are put to the first test. Contem- 

 plation of nature and observation of i1« laws are necessary to find means for aggression and 

 defense. The multitudes of people are raised on the open plains, while the men of strong 

 body and mind come from the forests and mountains, where nature offers the most obstin- 

 ate resistance. Bnt when that grade of culture is reached where a man learns to put the 

 powers of nature to his use, it should be supposed that he would then begin to appreciate 

 the value of animal and vegetable life, and use the gifts of nature with some consideration 

 of the laws of their reproduction and with some sense of economy and saving for the 

 future ; but reckless selfishness and the spirit of destruction seem to be stronger in him 

 than reason and forethought. 



" History establishes the strange fact, that until a very recent period nearly all civil- 

 ized nations have very imprudently and often wantonly wasted the natural resources of 

 their respective countries, until the greatest .part thereof was exhausted beyond the possi- 

 bility of reproduction. They all knew well enongh that forests were indispensable, they 

 judged from the commercial as well as the sesthetical standpoint of view, but they made 

 no efforts to preserve, much less reproduce them. Even the high cultivated Romans, who 

 could not have failed to be aware of the final consequences of the destruction of the forest, 

 which was steadily going on in the so-called classical period, never took pains to replace 

 the rapidly disappearing native trees. 



