196 ANIfUAL aEPOET 



near, stamped off the heads. It is then cleaned and stored for future 

 use. It is of a dark color, and many of the pioneers prefer it to the 

 California nee. I never did, but frequently in an early day was 

 obliged to eat it or go hungry. 



I do not pretend to give the botanical name to these products. I 

 prefer to let them remain in their own native Dakota, just as Mr. 

 Prescott left them so many years ago. 



On motion, a vote of thanks was given Col. Stevens, with the re- 

 quest of a copy for publication. 



The following paper was read by Mr. Owen, editor of Farm, Stock 

 and Home: 



FORESTS AND MINES. 



The Relation of Our Undeveloped Ikon and Coal Mines to 

 OuB Overdeveloped Forests. 



By S. M. Owen, Minneapolis. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen. 



This country has now reached a period of intellectual and material 

 development so advanced that new problems are constantly pre- 

 senting themselves, as new scenes present themselves to the traveler in 

 a strange country. As a nation we have driven such a furious race be- 

 hind the spirited steeds of progress that we have forgotten everything 

 save theexhilerating sensation of our rapid ride; have been oblivious to 

 the terrific strain to which carriage, steeds and rider have been sub- 

 jected; have been indifferent to a possibly useless waste of energy and 

 misuse of resources. We have been forgetful of the past and thought- 

 less for the future. If we feel any gratitude toward our ancestors, the 

 sentiment is not powerful enough to properly impress us with our ob- 

 ligations to posterity. 



This unwise, even dangerous, indifference of the present regarding 

 the future is manifest in a thousand ways, but it is my purpose to call 

 your attention to but one of them, though that one is by far the most 

 important of all, for it is one that is leaving in its wake the most of dan- 

 ger and calamity; I allude to the destruction of the forests of our 

 country. 

 I do not propose to touch upon the climatology of this subject. I 



