346 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
a portion of his land, for a specified period, from the payment of any territorial, 
or other tax. I make the suggestion in the hope that the idea may meet with 
your approbation, leaving all the details to your judgment and discretion. 
Although the council took appropriate action on this reeommenda- 
tion and referred it to the house on December 17, 1859, the latter 
failed to concur or to initiate any action of its own. 
Accordingly the Governor, in his message at the opening of the 
1860-61 session on December 4, 1860, again referred to the subject as 
follows (179): 
In a former communication I suggested a plan of indirect bounty, by which 
the growth of timber on our prairies might be successfully encouraged. I believe 
still that the plan is entirely practicable, and I know that it meets with general 
favor among the people. If every quarter section of land occupied by a settler 
was supplied with a reasonable amount of timber, the vast advantage would be 
visible to every eye and extend to every interest. Not the farmer alone, but the 
whole community, would receive and enjoy the benefit. That timber of the 
best varieties can be grown in a few years, is established, yet comparatively 
very little has been planted. Would not a law exempting a certain portion of 
each person’s land from taxation for a specified number of years, as a reward or 
bounty for the growth of timber, accomplish the desired result? If 5 acres out 
of every 40 could be covered with a forest, it would be clear economy to set the 
entire 40 free from taxation, and the amount withdrawn from the treasury would 
be wisely and well bestowed. To me, the subject seems to be one of serious 
importance, and not unworthy of your early notice and deliberation. Whatever 
may be the best means, the end, at least, is greatly to be desired. 
Shortly thereafter two bills were introduced in the house and one 
in the council. The house bill ‘‘To encourage the cultivation of 
fruit, forest, and ornamental trees’’ was finally passed and received 
the Governor’s approval January 4, 1861 (S. L. 1860-61, p. 45).® 
This, the first act of its kind to be passed in the United States 
eranting tax relief to private owners for the growing of forests, pro- 
vided for an exemption of $50 in valuation, for each acre thereof, of 
any tract of real estate in a good state of cultivation, on which there 
were not less than 100 fruit or ornamental trees, or 400 forest trees, 
in artificial groves. The act also provided that the cultivation of 
such trees as described on any tract should in no case increase its 
valuation for revenue purposes. 
It is perhaps interesting to note in this same general connection 
that this 1860-61 session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature 
adopted a joint resolution memorializing Congress to grant the ter- 
ritory ‘‘one section of land in each township for the purpose of growing 
timber thereon” (S. L. 1860-61, p. 259). 
This first Nebraska act seems to have been largely overlooked in 
the subsequent codification of the territorial laws which appeared in 
1866. That code contains in the chapter on revenue (Rey. Stats., 
1866, ch. 46, p. 301) only the brief provision at the end of the original 
act to the effect that the cultivation of fruit, forest, or ornamental 
trees on any tract was not to increase its value for revenue purposes. 
Shortly after becoming a State, however, Nebraska passed the act of 
February 12, 1869 (S. L. p. 68), reviving the original law in modified 
form, to wit: The annual exemption was increased to $100 for each 
acre planted to forest trees but was limited to 5 years, to not over 
$500 for one person owning less than 160 acres, and by the further 
proviso that the 5 acres or less for which exemption was claimed must 
“€The designation S. L. (‘‘session laws’’) refers to the volume of laws passed at a given session of the 
legislature and currently published, extensively but not exclusively called session laws. Designation of 
the year of the session will be made only when it differs from the year date of the particular law to which 
reference is being made. Volumes of laws other than session laws are specifically designated. 
