430 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the State should provide for that. It has got to the point now 

 where education through laboratory work is absolutely neces- 

 sary. Years ago, when a hog was a hog, it was not necessary 

 to have things practical and plain, but today we have got a long 

 way from that condition, and in our practical educational work 

 we must employ laboratory methods. In connection with for- 

 estry we need, in order to put our forestry instruction w^ork in 

 the university on a good basis, we need the opportunity to 

 demonstrate work in the field, and we have got to have it some 

 way or another, and we are going to have it some way or 

 another. I do 'not believe the people of this great state are 

 going to quibble about putting the work in a practical and satis- 

 factory condition. Now, the question of ways and means comes 

 up, as to how it can be done. As showing that future wise fore- 

 sight on the part of some one, and perhaps due to the guidance 

 and direction of an overruling Providence, which controls so 

 much the afifairs of life, the state now owns about fourteen or 

 fifteen hundred acres of land in Hubbard county. It is known as 

 the Itasca State Park. This park was formed at the head- 

 waters of the Mississippi river for the purpose of preserving 

 the evidence of the source of the Mississippi and to preserve 

 thereon the natural pine timber, so that there might be some- 

 thing to look at when our state got big enough to take an in- 

 terest in this matter. And that park is admirably adapted for 

 demonstration work such as we need now in the university. In 

 that park there is standing some twenty odd million feet of pine, 

 big old trees. It is a game preserve, and there are all ki'nds of game 

 and fish in the park. It is a beautiful place, and last summer 

 I understand the hotel in the park was full all summer, and there 

 were more applications for space than could be filled. This park 

 is located about twenty-five miles from Park Rapids, which is 

 on the stage route to Itasca Park and on the road to Bemidji. 

 It is a good road, and there is a daily mail service. Our idea 

 is that we should use this park in some such way as this. At 

 present it is under the control of the governor and the attorney 

 general, and they are very desirous that it should be put into the 

 hands of the State Forestry Board. If it is put into the hands 

 of the State Forestry Board I know that that board would aim 

 to make it an example of what is possible in the state of Min- 

 nesota in the way of forestry in producing pine grown under 

 forestry conditions, the same as it is done in Europe. If that 



