UfS The Western Pomologist and Gardener. 1872 



Kansas State Horticaltnral Society. 



Second Semi-Annual Meeting at Humboldt. Kansas, June lltli and 12th, 1872. 

 Bt the Associate Editor. 



The meeting opened at nine o'clock A. M., in Long's Hall which was most beautifully 

 decorated with wild and cultivated flowers; the walls were hung with elegant engrav- 

 ings and costly paintings, while the centre of the hall was filled with ornamental and 

 green-house plants, surrounded with a table on which was displayed various kinds of 

 ripe, green and canned fruits and garden vegetables handsomely arranged with bouquets 

 and flowers, showing much taste and skill, giving great credit to the ladies and gentlemen 

 of Humboldt. But above all which spoke louder than a thousand tongues the feeling and 

 sentiment of the people of Humboldt, were the inscriptions in large gilt letters placed 

 over the rostrum " Welcome." "Let Brotherly Love Oontinde," encircled and 

 intertwined with garlands of native forest leaves and prairie flowers. The meeting was 

 called to order by the President, Dr.W. M. Howsley, of Leavenworth ; Prayer by Rev. D. 

 M. Gage, of lola ; Welcoming address by D. B. Emmert, Mayor of the city of Humboldt ; 

 responded to by the President. 



Prof. E. Gale, of the Kansas Agricultural College at Manhattan, then read an essay on 

 the importance of forest tree culture, which was excellent and well received. He consid- 

 ered the life of a nation depended upon a liberal supply of timber. In support of which 

 he cited the degeneracy of many nations and countries once flourishing but since the 

 destruction of their timber, weak and feeble and the country barren. He prophesied the 

 same fatal results here if the present destruction of trees continued, without renewal. 

 Forest conservation and forest culture should go together. In the mountains the forests 

 should be preserved as they are the source of our great streams. They are now recklessly 

 stripped of their timber by the ax and fire without being replaced by a young growth 

 which is a source of alarm to us of the plains. Fore.sts should be planted and cultivated 

 on the prairies of the west and the natural groves of the valleys and mountains preserved 

 from cattle and fire. But immediate and home results should be also borne in mind in this 

 great work; the breaking of the force of winds, the. hiding of unsightly views, the regula- 

 ting and ameliorating of the climate, etc. The present destruction of the mountain forests 

 and the ruinous system of agriculture on the prairies will, if not remedied, soon beggar this 

 country. Educate the public mind on this matter to efi'ect government aid, and in this the 

 press and every friend of horticulture has a duty to perform. Intelligent forest culture is 

 simple and not expensive but profitable. Experiments with imported varieties are not 

 necessary ; indigenous^ees are easily obtained and cheap ; their entire care will not 

 exc^d that of one crop of corn ; a few acres of forest will effect a sale of a farm, enhanc- 

 ing its value very much and in a few years secure profitable returns in firewood and tim- 

 ber ; the forests constitute a shelter for crops and cattle ; also a protection for human life 

 from the terrible winds of the plains in winter. 



FOREST TREE CULTURE. 



Messrs. Elliott, Gale and Kingsberry were appointed a committee- to report resolutions 

 on forest tree culture. The committee reported the following resolutions, which were 

 adopted. 



Besolved 1. Tha* the rapid increase of population in the United States and the multi- 

 plication of industries all require an immense consumption of timber, foretell the exhaus- 

 tion of the forests, within a comparatively brief period. 



3. That the State of Kansas having only about five per cent of her area in woods, and 

 exposed in her extended surface to the sweeping winds of elevated plains, has a peculiar 

 interest in the subject of forest tree culture, in groves and wind-breaks, and not only for 

 the supply of fuel and timber, but also for the amelioration of climate. 



3. That our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States, be 

 respectfully requested to bring before their bodies the importance of some appropriate 

 action to encourage the growth of forest trees on the western plains. 



4. That we respectfully call the attention of the farmers of Kansas to the fact that the 



