Diet nt ys 5 
CF. 
y= yr 
_—P 
ae 
Ay ? ™ 
FORESTRY. 179 
lands, and on to its swamp lands, so unwisely granted to differ- 
ent railroads. Of course, this question is one that the Ameri- 
can people are slow to wake up to. We have inherited certain 
traditions that run clear back to old England, that makes every 
man feel that he ought not to be interfered with in regard to 
his own estate. I suppose that we got that idea from the fact 
that the common people of England were so greatly enraged at 
the time the Normans came into England and made such large 
reservations for game purposes, and we have felt that it is 
wrong for any body of men to interfere with our rights to cut 
down our timber. However, it seems to me that laws ought to 
be passed at this time for that purpose. 
Mr. Underwood: It seems to me that one of the serious dif- 
ficulties, which arises in protecting forests, is that of fire. I 
have experienced some such difficulty in the little forests 
that we have around our place on the high bluffs along the 
Mississippi river andon Lake Pepin. There is a good deal of 
land there that is not valuable for agricultural purposes, that 
is really of no benefit at all to anyone, except for growing trees, 
and they seem to sprout up there naturally. We would have a 
good forest of trees there, but the fires are set every year and 
rage along these bluffs, and sweep the trees down before them. 
Now, is there not some way to stop people from setting those 
fires? There should be some severe penalty, or a police force 
to control it. I think that is one thing that the Forestry As- 
sociation ought to attend to. 
Mr. Barrett:—I would suggest that Mr. Underwood’s idea is 
excellent, but I am impressed that we must not cover too much 
ground at this time. Let us get one essential thing done. Let 
us take one step ata time. Then later on we will take another 
step. Some time ago I sent out a circular containing twenty- 
six questions, among the people of the state. One of the ques- 
tions was ‘*‘ How much waste land have you got in your county © 
that would be more profitable for tree raising than for agricul- 
tural purposes?” I have these statistics and they will be pro- 
duced in due time. By them, I see there is a large territory 
indeed. Now, we can work the state by and by, when we have 
taken the initial step in reference to public domain. I will 
suggest. gentlemen, that we confine ourselves to the public do- 
main at present, and by working with determination we will 
have a reservation. 'Then after we have made a success of this 
we can take up this other matter at another time. Now, just 
a word about our convention at Washington. We had there 
