316 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
do these stately and thrifty trees in their virgin splendor, as it were, 
speak to me, saying: “I have received good and kind treatment in 
accordance with your instructions to my nurse and proprietor when 
I left you;” others invariably say: “Here I stand isolated and 
parched, the soil so hard and baked that my roots cannot spread 
and work their way through, and the weeds robbing me of every 
drop of water that the gentle showers lavish upon me in a bounti- 
ful measure, could I but retain it. The cattle are allowed to roam 
over my inheritance, treading me down, and I feel so overcome and 
despondent that death would be a relief; therefore, I long to die. 
I have desired so much to perform my mission in this world, but 
have been given no opportunity, and my owner, by whom I was 
adopted, must be held responsible for the result.” 
When my friends convey such a sprig to the place where they 
desire to plant it and I happen to behold its neglectful appearance, 
I procure a spade and a wheelbarrow by which to transport loose 
pulverized earth, chips or mulch, to be placed around it, and next 
time that I come around the very same trees exhibit a prosperous, 
healthy and contented appearance. 
Formerly the standard rule was to plant cottonwood, now re is 
my honest conviction that it is injurious for many reasons to 
plant any of that kind. People are now beginning to plant trees of 
the varieties foundin our native timber belts here, and where secured 
by careful selection they seemingly do well; others gather seeds and 
plant them where they desire to have them stand in the future. The 
tree agents have no longer the harvest they were accustomed to 
gather by their immense sales of cottonwood trees. ThisIcall a 
happy sign. 
One thing that has destroyed our forests to an alarming extent 
is the foolish and absurd practice of converting timber lands into 
pasturage. Cattle,horses and sheep destroy the young timber, each 
in their own peculiar way. The thoughtful farmer cannot afford to 
have his trees destroyed in that way. Here is ample material for 
the “press” and it should not hesitate, promptly and without 
reserve, to show up the disastrous results from the destruction of 
our forests, repeating it at intervals and never letting up until the 
people are convinced that it will not do to allow our forests to be 
ruined, isolated and destroyed. Hon.S. M. Owen, itis to be hoped 
will be presentatour gathering. Thisreport is in the main addressed 
to him, and other representatives of the “press” that will permit 
their papers to serve the people and our country. 
Now “What variety of trees shall I plant?” isa question that natu- 
rally arises. Formerly, when a person planted a certain variety and 
that particular kind hada tendency to thrive and do well, the people 
were not slow to follow suit; they must invariably plant the same 
variety or not at all. Others cling to the belief that they must plant 
the same kind of trees that they were accustomed to plant where 
they formerly lived, for instance, cottonwood trees; they do not 
seem to have any regard for climate, latitude or soil, and still less 
for the variety most needed in the future. 
The prodigy confronts us then, that where the venture has been 
made at tree planting we will find the same variety over the entire 
settlement, and every grove of timber is exclusively of one variety. 
