180 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



most God-forsaken looking place I ever set eyes upon, pigs and cattle 

 running in the street, everything down at the heel and wretched 

 looking ! After a half or three-quarters of an hour's ride we came 

 to another town. It was a very beautiful place, the houses painted, 

 the streets clean, the lawns green and planted with trees, everything 

 showing thrift and energy-. Now, if you can set before the people 

 a picture of two towns like that, which one will they be most likely 

 to select for a home? If you were looking for a place to buy as a 

 home, if the lots were of the same size and the places were equally 

 adapted to your business, which would you pay the most for ? Every 

 man that has sense, and especially every woman, every father and 

 mother who have children know they would pay a great deal more 

 for a horne in a beautiful town — and what is true of you is true 

 of everybody else. If you will only make your towns and villages 

 beautiful, you will add to the value of every house and lot in "the 

 village and secure the best class of people. (Applause.) This is 

 a hard fact, and you want to get it in the minds of your people, and 

 they will go to work and clean up. 



It is just in the same line to speak of the forest reserve and talk 

 about the beauty of the trees and their value. I shall not speak of 

 the fruit trees, although I am so fond of apples that I could almost 

 say I am like the boy Beecher spoke of, that he could eat a hatful 

 of apples, but I am always glad to see a big dish full. I cannot 

 speak along that line, but what I can speak of is of the country and 

 village home, the planting of trees and shrubs and the pleasures 

 of fruit growing. But the line I want to talk about is the trees for 

 beauty. I think we all realize the value of the treasure we have 

 here in our pine forest. It was a grand possession until we became 

 usurpers, until the thought came to the mind, "Cut it down," and we 

 now have to cultivate that spirit that says, "Let it stand." There 

 are places in the United States where a tree has rights, rights that 

 must be respected. When it becomes decrepit or dangerous a 

 placard is put on that tree stating that it is the intention to cut down 

 that tree, and if anybody has any objection to offer to be present at 

 such and such a place. It is just that I want to impress upon you, 

 that thought that the trees of our state have rights, and I should like 

 to say that trees have rights that are only a source of pleasure. 

 Every spot where a tree ought to grow, if a tree is planted there, will 

 be the means of making the world more beautiful, and when you 

 have made beauty, as Beecher says, you have the best thing God 

 ever made. 



In the first place, for the trees that are now standing in our 

 forests that are so rapidly diminishing, that beautiful park country 

 that we women have tried so hard to preserve, I should like to beg 

 of you, each and all, to throw your influence energetically in favor of 

 the preservation of that park. I am afraid the lumberman's ax is 

 already laid at the root of the tree. I am afraid we shall lose that 

 beautiful tract of timber, and before it is too late we should do all 

 that lies within our power to preserve that beautiful forest for those 

 that come after us. When we think of the tens of thousands occupy- 

 ing this country and the hundreds of thousands who will occupy it, 



