A lumberman's view OF THE FORESTRY SITUATION. 253 



and I .am interested fully as much in that as in lumbering'. We are 

 not practical in a great many things in this country. In some of 

 those foreign countries a farmer owning a piece of woodland is not 

 allowed to cut it oft unless he can satisfy the authorities it would 

 be more valuable as farm than it is as timber land. A man would 

 be foolish to cut down his timber if it were more valuable for that 

 purpose than for any other. Fires are started, and a great deal of 

 timber is destroyed by farmers themselves in clearing and endeavor- 

 ing to clear the land for crops, and in hundreds of cases those same 

 farms have been abandoned afterwards and have grown up to brush 

 and weeds — but it would not be consonant wnth our institutions 

 to deny a man's right to use his private property in his own way. 



There are certain tracts of timber in this state and in other 

 states, in- Wisconsin, jMichigan, New York and Maine that are of no 

 practical use for agricultural purposes. They are just as good for 

 the growth of trees, so that private owners could afford to hold them 

 for future use just as well as they can for agricultural purposes. 

 The government can hold them, there is no tax to pay. We can 

 hold them to use for ourselves and posterity, and it is our duty, frorn 

 my point of view, to insist upon this being done. 



AGRICULTURE IN OUR RURALS CHOOLS. 



PROF. WILI.KT M. HAYS, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



I am exceedingly proud to follow these able and progressive 

 ladies, these women who, unlike the women of a generation ago, are 

 taking hold of these larger public affairs and are exerting an influ- 

 ence w'hich is having an enormous and wonderful effect upon our 

 civilization. I was impressed by the accounts of the work that is 

 being done by this league of women as presented by Mrs. Hamlin 

 of St. Paul. I w^as much pleased with what my good friend, Prof. 

 Sanford, said about our forests and her faith that they can be in 

 part saved. But how are we to bring about these results? We lack 

 the people; we lack the public sentiment. We must get at the chil- 

 dren that the next generation may be better ready for these im- 

 proved methods, and to reach these youths we must get at the 

 teachers who teach them. We can reach our hundreds in the col- 

 lege of agriculture and in the school of agriculture, but to reach the 

 hundreds of thousands we must teach in the public schools of the 

 state. The question is, how shall we build up the common home 

 life, the country and city life of the state and nation, and how shall 

 we beautify our cities and villages? We must teach the children of 

 school age, must build up these subjects in our common schools. 



