THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS 87 



STATE TIMBER CULTURE LAWS 



A Minnesota act of 1867 appropriated three hundred dollars to 



enable the state agricultural society to offer premiums for the best 



five acres of cultivated timber or for the best continuous half mile of 



live hedge fence; but Kansas passed the first general timber culture 



act in 1868, offering a bounty of $2 per acre for timber successfully 



cultivated for three years. Wisconsin followed with a similar law the 



same year, while Iowa passed a law providing for a tax exemption for 



ten years for every acre so planted. During the following decade, laws 



providing either bounty or tax exemption were passed in the follow- 



ig states: Nebraska and New York (1869) ; Missouri (1870) ; Min- 



jsota (1871); Maine (1872); Nevada (1873); Illinois (1874); 



Dakota, Connecticut, Wyoming and Washington (1877) ; Massachu- 



rtts and Rhode Island (1878). During the same period a number of 



ite laws were passed to foster the planting of trees along highways. 



?he net result of all timber culture was very small, however, and many 



'of the laws were soon repealed.*^ 



TREE PLANTING BY THE RAILROADS 



^^m Interest in the subject of tree planting is shown, not only by the 

 ^Hcate legislation, but also by the activity of various railroads in such 

 ^Experiments. In 1870, the Kansas Pacific Railroad began experiments 

 '^at three stations, but soon gave them up.^" In the same year, the St. 

 Paul & Pacific Railroad began experiments in the prairie districts 

 along its course. In 1872, the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad 

 Company of Nebraska planted trees along the Platte River. In 1873, 

 the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad began experiments, and in the 

 ■"same year the Santa Fe established three nurseries in Kansas. In 

 1875, the Northern Pacific, and two years later the Southern Pacific, 

 decided on a similar policy. The Illinois Central, the Kansas City, 

 Fort Scott & Gulf, the Missouri Pacific, and other roads also con- 

 ducted experiments in tree planting.*^ The purpose of the railroads 



41 Hough, "Report on Forestry," I, 205, 206, 213: Proceedings, Am. Forestry 

 Congress, 1885, 61: Kinney, "Forest I^aw in America." 



42 Hough, "Report on Forestry," I, 118-122. 

 *s Fourth Biennial Report, Cal. State Board of Forestry, 1891-92: Forest 



Bui. 1. 



