82 AKNUAL REPORT. 



A NEW VERSION". 



Many Bible students have searched the Scriptures in vain for 

 these words: " He tempers the winds to the shorn lamb." Now, 

 my wish is this, that in some distant day, and the day may not be 

 very distant either, when all prejudice shall have been laid aside 

 in regard to our having written from a nurseryman's standpoint or 

 from purely selfish motives, that some faithless shepherd, who per- 

 chance has lost dear lambs for want of judicious tree protection, 

 and may be searching the Bible or elsewhere for the comforting 

 words above quoted, may find the only true version ever published 

 to the world in the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultu- 

 ral Society for 188^^ viz., "He tempers the winds to the shorn 

 lambs, only when modified or filtered through the beautiful foli- 

 age or spray of gur many noble forest trees." 



When nature's laws are so far changed that the mariner can 

 safely navigate the broad, trackless ocean without compass, life- 

 boat or anchor, then, and not till then, will man be safe outside of 

 tree protection. 



In conclusion I will say, that in my humble opinion, the cotton- 

 wood, Populus Mamli/era, is the tree of all trees to use for immedi- 

 ate effect against tornadoes, and also the cheapest tree to procure, 

 as the seed and cuttings can be found on most any of our streams 

 or farms, without money and without price. In looking over the 

 devastated district at Rochester I observed this difference between 

 the Cottonwood and all other trees, viz : in the case of fruit trees, 

 evergreens etc., the tornado invariably took the largest specimens, 

 while near the Zumbro Falls Mill, where it struck fearfully hard, 

 the large cotton wood alluded to above as measuring over fifteen feet, 

 had no damage done to it except a few limbs broken from the top, 

 and another in the north line of the tornado measured nineteen and 

 one-half feet in circumference. While many cotton woods of me- 

 dium size and the largest specimens of other varieties were laid low 

 by this terrible gale, these " Monarchs of the Forest" stood appar- 

 ently as firm as the everlasting hills, while many of the fine marble 

 tombstones, just beyond in Oakwood Cemetery, were leveled to the 

 dust. When 1 shall have planted my last tree, and have resigned 

 my spade, as I hope, to more faithful hands, who will be able to do 

 more to save our people from tornadoes, I will crave no prouder 

 monument to mark my last resting place than one of these despised 

 " Monarchs of the Forest." 



