LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. 



To His Excellency, Hon. Knute Nelson, Governor of Minnesota: 



Dear Sir: The legislative act of 1893, basing support for the State For- 

 estry Association, requires an annual report of its doings, together with 

 such other information as it may deem necessary to further advance the 

 interests of forestry. 



The Minnesota Board of World's Fair Commissioners liberally provided 

 for an exhibit of our woods at the Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, 

 111., and allowed the Association the honor of official representation. The 

 exhibit ranked with the first class, and awarded accordingly. Great interest 

 was manifested in our woods by citizens of other states and nationalities, 

 and earnest inquiries made as to their extensiveness for commercial uses. 

 Soon after the close of the exposition, the commissioners tendered the en- 

 tire exhibit to the Forestry Association, as state property in trust, and 

 re-erected it in the Main Building on the State Fair Grounds, preserving 

 its original form greatly improved. 



During the fiscal year the Association published and distributed 35,000 

 copies of the Tree'Planter's Manual and other forestry pamphlets, besides 

 the ninth edition in the report of the State Agricultural Society. The sec- 

 retary also prepared the forestry department in the report of the State 

 Horticultural Society, and President Stevens, in the annual of the Farmers' 

 Institute. Under the direction of the World's Fair commissioners, the 

 secretary edited another 32-page pamphlet on forestry, entitled "Minne- 

 sota and Its Flora," and distributed the 10,000 copies at the Columbian 

 Exposition. The aggregate of these several pamphlets is 70,000, added 

 to which should be mentioned our other forestry literature issued in Tfie 

 Progressive Age, Farm, Stock and Home and other journals, reaching 

 weekly and semi-monthly hundreds of thousands of readers. 



The association expended $94.70, of which $47.75 were new membership 

 funds, for forest seedlings and seeds, and distributed the same among peo- 

 ple calling for them. Most of these plants were evergreens. 



The association has now arranged to distribute mail packages of the 

 Jack Oak Acorns to be planted this fall as tests for wind-breaks. 



An effort was made to raise evergreens for next year's free distribution, 

 but the dryness of the purchased seeds and the severe drouth brought only 

 failure. 



In presenting this summary of work, we respectfully call the attention 

 of your excellency to this report, especially to what relates to the needs of 

 legislation on irrigation, forest reservation, forest zoology, forest fires and 

 forest education in our common schools. 



