REPORT OX FORKSTRY. 235 



REPORT ON FORESTRY. 



J. (). HAKKETT, HKOWN'S \'ALLKV, 



(Read at the Animal Meeting of tlie State Horticultural Society Dec. 4th, 1895.) 



I recall the fact that about ten years aj^o this society was atrug'- 

 glin;;- for the position it deserved. The old veterans, who had fon;;^ht 

 the demons of doubt and indifference as to raising- fruit in Minne- 

 sota, stood their ground, brave as the little band of Greeks fighting 

 the Persian hosts at the Pass of Thennopjlae. They pounded their 

 way forward. gaining public confidence slowly but surely, and their 

 victor}- is so historic, that the Minnesota State Horticultural Society 

 i.H recognized as one of tlie most talented and efficient in the United 

 States. As proof of this fact, we have but to survey the vast fruit 

 areas all around us. 



And I recall another noteworth)' event, that the hortictilturai 

 society never ignored the claims of forestry-. In the darkest hour 

 of the Forestry Association— do jou not remember it? -this society 

 took it under its fostering care, keeping the spark of life in the sick 

 baby. At an annual meeting six years ago in this cit}', Wyman El- 

 liot being president, the question, whether the association should 

 cease to be by merging it into this society, was entrusted to a 

 special committee, consisting of Chas. Luedloff, C. L. Swift and 

 the writer of this, who, after canvassing the situation, reported 

 that the -association was not ready to die but must live to see a 

 brighter day. Soon after this, a few veterans of the association met 

 in the Historical Rooins at St. Paul and ftirther discussed the mattef 

 and concluded to go ahead. Having elected a new board of officers, 

 the association struck out, breasting the storm of human wrath, as 

 did the horticultural societj' in the long ago. But few know what 

 battles we have had to fight, but not a man among us flinched 

 from dut}'. You know the result. Todaj' our association is regarded 

 by foresters as one of the tnost persistent and effectual in the Union 

 of States. That the public pulse has been stirred to beat in favor of 

 forestry is evidenced by the newlj- awakened interest in tree plant- 

 ing on the open prairie, by a legislative reckoning with the titnber 

 thieves and bj' the organization under state authority of a forest 

 tire warden system with earnest men to operate its machinery. The 

 year of our Lord, 189.i, inaugurated practical forestry on its essen- 

 tial lines. The initial step taken sooner than we anticipated, the 

 evolutional work is before us. Following the success of organizing 

 a system of protection to forest property and life against fires, in 

 the bill in which our association had a conspicuous hand, the legis- 

 lature again appropriated means to support our arduous labors. 



Since the new departure of 1881), under the auspices of this society 

 we have certainly sent to the people not less tlian 7(H),(MK) pamphlets 

 and circulars, also plants and seeds by thousands upon tliousands, 

 and the call for them increases on our hands. 



^Ve are now making vigorous efforts to establi.-^h a forestry- library 

 for our association; for books we have to depend upon donations, 



