STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 79 



the way to the top of the volcano, bade defiance to Nature's laws in 

 the choice of location for their beautiful city. And in consequence 

 on the 24th day of August, A.D., 79, they were buried from twenty 

 to seventy feet deep. And in like manner the people of the 

 beautiful city of Rochester, Minnesota, bade defiance to all blizzards 

 and tarnadoes, and, at the same time to Nature's laws, when they 

 located near the head of a large, level, open valley that ex- 

 tends many miles west and southwest up the cascade, with 

 scarcely a tree or shrub to break the wind. 



Chompallion, the great African traveler, asks: "Is there any 

 crime against Nature which draws down on man a more terrible 

 curse than that of stripping Mother Earth of her sylvan covering? 

 The hand of men has produced this desert and, I verily believe, 

 every other desert upon the surface of this earth. Earth was Eden 

 once; and our misery is the punishment of our sins against the 

 world of plants. The burning sun of the desert is the angel with 

 the flaming sword who stands between us and Paradise." 



Seneca says, " It is good for a man to fortify himself on his weak 

 side." And we say that it is wise and expedient for every house- 

 holder, as well as for every city in the whole land, to fortify itself 

 on its weak side, especially on the west and southwest, from 

 whence came our prevailing winds during the time of these terrible 

 tornadoes. 



The late lamented Leonard B. Hodges, the " John A. Warder of 

 this part of the Union," as he has been aptly termed, and Mr. 

 Pearce, another well-known horticulturist, whom we all know how 

 to appreciate, resided for many years near our devastated city. 

 They were both here when I came to the state in '59; and Mr. 

 Hodges was then in the nurserj^ business. Now, let us imagine 

 what might have been the result providing our city fathers, as long 

 ago as '59 had employed one of these noble champions of the "Mon- 

 arch of the Prairies," the cottonwood, to plant a dozen rows 

 along the western limits of the city, four feet apart each way. Let 

 those who were well-protected by trees at the time of the tornado 

 answer. Right here let me quote from the words of Mr, 

 Hodges, who spoke to us from this very platform less than a year 

 ago, and let us cherish these, the last words to this society, from 

 our acknowledged leader in forestry: " The pioneer farmer out on 

 our oceanic prairies, who surrounds his quarter section, with a broad 

 belt of forest trees, protects not only his own fields and crops 

 from the damaging effects of storms, but to a great extent protects 

 his adjoining neighbor, who, in common with him, enjoys the 



