134 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it can never be otherwise. Hence, then, this cause is in our own 

 hands. If we believe in forest protection and forest restoration, 

 the only thing for us to do is to agitate, and agitate until we are 

 beard, and to organize into town, county, state, and national 

 forestry associations that our agitations may be efifectual. There 

 never was a time when such organization was more hopeful than 

 now. Politically we are almost without leading issues. It is hard 

 for the dominant parties to tell upon what they differ, except that 

 one has the offices and the other desires them. The irrigation 

 question, so intimately associated with the forestry movement, is 

 fairly before the people of the West. And if by concert of action 

 we can now determine upon certain desirable points and move 

 solidl}" over any considerable portion of the country towards 

 these points, we shall either gain them, or at least gain such a 

 vantage ground that those who are to come after us will accom- 

 plish all that we failed in doing. 



The first preliminary then, appears to be knowledge : — an 

 exact statement of what land we have in timber in the whole 

 country. When Maine, Massachusetts, and New York go to 

 Washington, and on the shores of Puget Sound obtain their ship 

 spars, it is clear that this report must come from both the east and 

 west. When Florida gives Michigan her hard pine in exchange 

 for white pine, it is equally certain that we need statistics from 

 both north and south. How fast is this timber being destroyed? 

 How much do we need for the future to keep the springs of com- 

 merce in full flow, and how soon can we produce it? Only a 

 National Forestry Commission can answer these questions. It 

 should have means and time allowed to do it well. The question 

 is too important for any subterfuges or make-believe examinations- 

 Let us have the truth carefully and honestl}- stated. Then, and 

 not until then, can legislation be intelligent, permanent, and pro- 

 ductive. I believe that this Society might, without going beyond 

 its legitimate function, examine carefully the forestry bill prepared 

 by the American Forestry Congress at its last meeting, and, if 

 approved, join its voice to ours in petition to our National Congress 

 for its passage. The bill is as follows : 



