HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 391 



Mr. Smith, from the committee on forestry presented the fol- 

 lowing verbal report: 



EBPOET OIsT FORESTEY. 



By G. L. Smith, Minneapolis. 

 Mr. President: 



We have not very much to report. The bill presented to the 

 last legislature was buried with the other bills in the rush of 

 business towards the close of the session. As a committee, dur- 

 ing the time since then we have done but little except to investi- 

 gate and compare notes. 



The interest in forestry throughout the state is growing. There 

 is a greater interest this year than there was last, or the year 

 before. More than that, our investigation would lead us to be- 

 lieve that the work of forest tree planting is being carried on 

 more intelligently each year. The demand for information upon 

 the subject increases and the information famished to planters 

 is more intelligent and easier understood than in the past; and 

 some vexed questions have been settled. 



One thing I think I mentioned in my report one year ago is 

 the fact that the craze for new foreign varieties seems to have 

 died out, and planters are generally falling back on the native 

 sorts; the demand for white willow cuttings has been greater 

 during the past year than for the Eussian mulberry, a hopeful 

 indication of common sense. 



One matter I wish to call particular attention to; I have in- 

 vestigated it carefully, on account of the opposition manifested 

 by some to my statements, made a year ago; that is the law re- 

 garding tree claims and the distance apart that trees should be 

 planted. I think it has worked an injury to the forestry inter- 

 ests of the state, from the fact that it has led people into the mis- 

 take of planting timber plantations too sparsely; getting their 

 trees too far apart. I have visited very many successful timber 

 plantations and quite as many more that have been failures dur- 

 ing the last year, and I wish to say that of over one hundred suc- 

 cessful tree plantations that I have visited every one of them 

 were closely planted, and of those that have been perfect failures 

 they were generally scattered plantations. 



Some four years ago I investigated the tree claim of President 

 Drake, of the Sioux City railroad, that was planted six years 

 ago. Se used perhaps eight or ten different varieties of trees 



