ECONOMIC VALUE OF SHELTER BELTS. 103 



interested in thia society, and we are taking the matter into our 

 public schools. 



" Mr. Hartwell: I cannot help but congratulate you: it is one of the 

 most encouraging things in the world to see such a live organiza- 

 tion as you have here. 



Mr. A. K. Bash: I believe we struck the key note in the sugges- 

 tion that we need horticulture and forestry in our public schools, 

 and I have urged that a text-book like those Prof. Green is getting 

 out might be used in our schools, and I believe our Minnesota Hor- 

 ticultural Society should get at the back of the movement and 

 interest itself in it; I believe we would hear from it immediately. It 

 was with that thought in mind that I suggested that our surplus 

 reports be placed in the libraries of schools. That is the place to do 

 the work, and that is where the work will count. 



Mr. Harris: I did not intend to speak on this subject, but it is a 

 fact that the interest in tree planting is increasing almost beyond our 

 fondest hopes. The right way to make the greatest and grandest 

 progress is coming through the students attending our farm school 

 here. They are taught how to plant trees and take care of them, 

 and if you can put one of those farmer boys every ten miles over 

 the state in ten years you will see a wonderful change in this state. 

 You will see evergreens all over Wisconsin and Minnesota. See 

 down here at Viola our old friend Somerville has a profusion of 

 evergreens on his place, and all his neighbors have them. Down at 

 Pewaukee, Wis., you will see the evergreens planted by old man 

 Peffer. He had a large foot that extended over a great area of coun- 

 try, and hundreds followed in his footsteps. At Milwaukee a man, 

 who was once a member of our society, living near Chatfield, years 

 ago started planting evergreens, and for miles they have evergreens 

 around that city in their lots and gardens, and they say it is all a 

 result of the influence of that one man. And I believe the three or 

 four hundred students that will be scattered out within the next 

 three or four years will make their influence felt in such a way that 

 within a very short time we shall see abundant results all over the 

 state of Minnesota. 



Mr. Spencer: For forty odd years I have been working for educa- 

 tion in Minnesota, and this discussion of what should be in the com- 

 mon school touches me in a tender point. I have seen a good many 

 schoolhouses with beautiful groves around them, and I have seen 

 many groves where the trees were used for hitching posts, but I 

 think a change for the better has come, and the state superintendent 

 will be able to tell us how the thing is getting along in the district 

 schools and how many shade trees are set out during the year. For 

 a number of years I was connected with an educational journal in 

 the state, "School Education," and we prepared for every Arbor Day 

 exercises calling the attention of the teachers^ and pupils of the 

 state to this work of tree planting. Those exercises go in one form 

 or another to all the schools of the state, and through the teachers 

 of the state considerable has been done. My heart was made g.-ad 

 to see that many schoolhouses had groves of trees about them, but 

 there are yet hundreds of schoolhouses throughout the state that 

 have not a solitary tree around them, and there are still more hun- 



