50 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE WORK OF AN IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE. 



MISS LUCIA E. DANFORTH, NORTHFIELD, 



The work of an improvement association is both suggestive and 

 executive, both preventative and remedial; but it is more suggestive 

 than executive, and more preventative than remedial. It must work 

 through individuals, through city councils and through the 

 legislature. 



One of the most important of its departments is that of forestry* 

 having as its object the saving of individual trees of marked beauty, 

 groves and woods near town and our oak and white pine forests- 

 The one thing which improvement clubs and individuals are 

 especially interested in now is the saving of the Cass Lake reserva- 

 tion for a state park and sanitarium. It has a fine growth of white 

 pine near a very pretty lake, and is accessible by railroad. It is one 

 of the very few pieces of white pine now left in the state, and the 

 benefit of the pine cure in cases of pulmonary weakness, and even 

 consumption, is well known, as well as the value to the state of the 

 citizens who are attracted here because of its importance for 

 sufferers from those diseases. 



Leaving out all sentiment for our forests and their great beauty, 

 shall we deprive our invalids of the one place possible of access to 

 those with slender purses? But unless our legislature decides this 

 winter to buy this Cass Lake reservation for the state, it will be sold 

 to private individuals, the trees will be cut and the beautiful forest 

 lost forever to the state. Even economy favors buying this forest* 

 for it is estimated that tourists bring to New Hampshire $6,000,000 a 

 year. Minnesota, if she does not sell her birthright, may in time 

 bring in correspondingly large amounts. 



Already 4,000 of the 12,000 lakes of Minnesota have dried up, largely 

 by the cutting of our forests, our rivers are lower, our droughts are 

 greater. Let us save what we can now. 



Something can be done in the way of saving beautiful groves near 

 our towns, and can be done more easily by an association than by 

 individuals. 



As to special trees, in Northfield, the town of whose association I 

 know the most, a particularly beautiful elm near St. Olaf's College 

 has been saved by the city council, who voted to have it sacred 

 forever. After that, an iron fence was put about it by the students 

 of St. Olaf's. A little tactful persuasion will often save the life of a 

 tree, and the saving of our trees is pathetically necessary. 



Besides the saving of our forests is the saving of our bluffs. 

 Perhaps some of you have seen the beautiful Ramenecha, or, as it 

 is commonly called, "Barn" bluff, at Red Wing. It is as beautiful 

 and remarkable as the Acropolis at Athens or Arthur's Seat at 

 Edinburgh, and is the one thing which distinguishes Red Wing 

 from all other cities. Some years ago, its owner generously offered 

 it to the city with some slight conditions. There was no improve- 

 ment association in Red Wing, and because of this and the lack of 

 any other organization of similar purpose, nothing was done with 

 the offer, and on the death of the owner it passed into other hands> 



