322 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



he did it in the kindest way possible. I do not wish to dwell longer 

 upon him, but I just refer to him briefly, as I know Mr. Owen 

 will take up the work of his life and do it so much better than I can 

 possibly do it. 



Judge Hicks is to speak upon the life and work of Capt. Cross, 

 but I have been asked to speak of his work in connection with Min- 

 nesota forestry. 



When Capt. Cross took hold of the forestry movement in this 

 state we had a new impulse. The forestry sentiment of this state 

 and of the whole nation has been hard to crystallize. For years we 

 had a forestry department, but it lacked crystallizing sentiment, it 

 lacked some way of fixing the thought of the public, it lacked some- 

 thing that was practical, that could be done. We had enough essays 

 of a general nature, what we wanted was something to crystallize 

 the sentiment of the people, and that was where we needed a good 

 lawyer. And that is a service that Capt. Cross has performed for 

 this state ; he was a pioneer. The law which he drew up establishing 

 a forestry reserve board in this state is a model of its kind. It is 

 referred to frequently in a very complimentary way by other sections 

 of the country. It is an •admirable document, an admirable law as he 

 drew it up ; but the legislature took out the most valuable part of it. 

 If it could have been passed as he drew it up it would be a greater 

 blessing than it is today, and I believe the time will come when the 

 people of the state will use foresight enough to demand that the orig- 

 inal bill be carried out and not the one today on the statute book, 

 which is good as far as it goes, but has the power cut out that has 

 spoiled the intent of the law. I believe the time is coming when we 

 will want to do something better. But this is a great work that Capt. 

 Cross has done. For a number of years he was president of the 

 forestry association, and with his legal knowledge he was a 

 wonderful help to it. He was always in favor of the forest fire 

 law and frequently spoke in favor of it before legislative com- 

 mittees, until now it would be a very difficult matter to repeal it. 

 At one time sentiment was so weak that the legislature passed a law 

 repealing it, and nothing stood in the way but the hard work of Capt. 

 Cross. His work was especially valuable because he brought his le- 

 gal talent to bear upon the forestry question when legal talent was 

 specially needed, and it was the legal talent of a pure, ripe mind, 

 the mind of a lawyer of experience. It has been a great benefit to us 

 so far and will be a greater benefit in the future. 



Dr. Lugger was an associate of mine in the University of Min- 

 nesota for something over thirteen years. We started together in 

 the School of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota when 

 there was no school of agriculture, when the name of the agricul- 

 tural department of the University of Minnesota was a byword, a 

 contempt. It was not considered worthy of notice, the farmers had 

 no time for it, it was the laughing stock of the people generally. 

 That agricultural department has grown until today there is no ag- 

 ricultural department like that of the university, or any agricultural 

 college that has a better experiment station than the state of Minne- 

 sota. That has come about through wise management on the part 

 of the board of regents and the support given to the work by the 



