392 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



E. S. Chittenden introduced a resolution providing- for the appoint- 

 ment of a coinmittee of five to draw up a suitable law for the 

 prevention of fires, and endeavor to secure its passage during- the 

 coming winter. 



C. S. Cairns, of Minneapolis, seconded the motion to adopt the 

 resolution, and urged the appointment of men of political influence, 

 urging that such a committee would have much more influence 

 than any other. 



Col. J. H. Stevens roasted the last legislature for rejecting the 

 bill for the protection of forests drawn by the Forestry Association, 

 and introduced bj^ Senator Allen, and said that if it had been passed, 

 he believed Hinckley would have been in existence today. He 

 believed the Commercial Club had taken the proper step in first 

 agitating public sentiment in favor of such a law before it was 

 introduced. 



Col. C. H. Graves thought that the coming legislature would be 

 ready to listen to any reasonable demands in the way of protection, 

 though, of course, they would encounter a great many obstacles 

 in the way of pecuniary interests, vested rights and all that sort 

 of thing; but the only way was to handle the question with an iron 

 hand, just as infectious diseases are handled. 



Prof. W. M. Hays, of the State Experiment Station, spoke of the 

 effect on the soil, and differed with those who contend that the 

 fires benefitted the soil, and held that, in the aggregate, the soil of 

 all kinds Was much damaged by the burning over. 



Prof. S. B. Green said it was tiine for the state to step in and by 

 experiments determine what the lands from which the trees have 

 been cut can be used for. There is no accurate detailed information 

 on the subject now. For the protection of the standing forests 

 he advocated something in the nature of a police patrol, tlie details 

 of the plan to be left to a practical cotnmission. 



Prof. W. R. Dobbyn said the Forestry Association found when they 

 started out that the first move necessary was to create a forestry' 

 sentiment, of which there was none. After some years work they 

 have come to a better understanding with the lumbermen and 

 others opposed to them, and with the emphasis added by the 

 Hinckley disaster, he thought the sentiment would pass the law 

 this winter. He deprecated the appointment of a legislative com- 

 mittee of politicians, and wanted the members selected from the 

 business interests. 



Mr. Ayers, a forestry expert from Carlton, thought Mr. Fernow's 

 idea of destroying the tree tops and other debris impracticable, and 

 the exjiense to the lumbermen would be almost as great as the log- 

 ging operations themselves. He thought a hearty co-operation be 

 tween the people in the forests would be far more practicable than 

 legislation. 



Mr. Joyce, of Iowa, manager of a big lumber company near Shell 

 Lake, said every logger should be required to burn the tops of the 

 trees in the spring. They would find it for their own interest as 

 well as that of the public. The resolution bj' Mr. Crittenden was 

 adopted and so was a resolution by Prof. Green declaring thaf'prac- 

 tical forest management contemplated the use of the timber for the 

 public and its reproduction on the land after such use." 



