380 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



plus waters to flow to us when most needed; a canal system thence, 

 ramifying- over the state, distributing- the water economically to se- 

 cure certainty of paying crops, as in the mountain regions farther 

 west; and the necessary establishment of a forest management vm- 

 der the control of the government, whereby the extravagant cutting 

 of our yet remaining commercial timber shall be stopped and install- 

 ments of the fittest of the j-oung timber trees, the pines and oaks es- 

 pecially, shall be saved, and new ones planted and cultivated to per- 

 petuate the lumber industry to our successors. Where is the man 

 or corporation that would defeat so practical and necessary an enter- 

 prise in the name of the people and for the people? 



Our lumbermen are beginning to understand what we are aiming 

 at, conceding that our object is sincere and our hibor a labor of love. 

 They are the part}^ most concerned in this movement, and are best 

 qualified to shape a policy. They deplore the fire scourge and are 

 ready to co-operate with any movement that will forestall or quench 

 it. Then, we must consult them and deinonstrate more effectually 

 than ever that our object in promoting their interest is to promote 

 the interest of the state. 



But this gigantic enterprise is otily a part of our responsible work. 

 A vast prairie coiintry to the west and north of the Twin Cities is 

 not yet mastered. Comparatively, the trees are thin and scattered, 

 not serving the purpose they might if planted more extensively and 

 densely. Tree planting there must go on until the farmers can un- 

 failingly raise clover; until, with this start, they can profitably 

 engage in the dairy industry, as in the more southern portions of 

 the state, where trees are more plentiful; until they discover they 

 can raise something beside wheat, that does not pay costs; until our 

 extreme heat of summer and cold of winter are thereby mitigated, 

 coming to us with healthful humidity on their wings. Bear a hand, 

 then, for our cause is the cause of the people's prosperitj-. 



FOREST SAVING VS. FOREST RAISING. 



PLATT 13. WALKEK, MINNEAPOLIS. 



The most important obstacle in the way of any system of forestry 

 — by which we mean the cultivation of trees for ordinary domestic 

 uses — lies in the question of taxation. There is alwaj's to be con- 

 sidered the relation which exists between the cost of jiroduction 

 and the market value of the product. It is, therefore, proper in con- 

 sidering the subject of tree planting to estimate its cost. The first 

 item would be the cost of the land and the interest thereon, say, for 

 twenty-five years. Then comes the expense of preparing the land 

 for this use; next, the cost of procuring and planting the trees. 

 Then comes the protecting of the trees from stock— in other words, 

 fencing. In the prairie section, the protection from damage by fire 

 would also be an important item. Then, last but b}^ no means least, 

 comes the (juestion of taxation. 



Estimating the value of a crop of trees produced b}- cultivation in 

 a period of twent\-five years by the market value of trees in the 



