ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 85 



maker with better promise than the wooded slope of the 

 mountain and the timbered border of the rivers. 



We have seen our Iowa lakes dry up and turned into 

 farms and people well began to ponder upon the question 

 as to whether we were confronted with radical and per- 

 manent change of climate. 



It seems to be the united opinion of all ages and in all 

 countries that rain produces forests and that forests 

 produce rain. Great and injurious changes of climate 

 almost certainly follow any sweeping and general de- 

 struction of the woods. Trees set along the fence rows 

 may by shade reduce the production of a little grass or 

 grain, but such trees will do much to break the force of 

 the wind and ameliorate the climate. 



All land must at times lie fallow. The best rest that it 

 can enjoy is when, covered with timber, it returns for a 

 time to its natural condition, sheltered and fertilized by 

 the woods once more. 



A reasonable portion of the country should at all times 

 be thus given up to its native woods, if we would preserve 

 the fertility of the whole. 



The practical question of today is how, as far as pos- 

 sible, to undo the mistakes of the past; how to prevent 

 them in the future. Agitation and discussion are neces- 

 sary to call the attention of the people to the importance 

 of maintaining, and at least partially restoring, some of 

 the primitive forests of this country. We must give up 

 some part to nature in order to keep the remainder for 

 ourselves. 



Earnest efforts have for the last fourteen years been 

 made in behalf of forestry in its national character. As 

 the result of national legislation more than 63,000,000 

 acres of timbered land are now set apart in forest re- 

 serves — an area almost twice as large as the state of 

 Iowa. These vast reservations have been so selected as 



