ters, 782 trees to an acre, or 16 foot centers, 
195 trees to an acre, each tree would pro¬ 
duce 2 or 3 straight 16-foot logs free from 
knots worth billions. Trees planted on 
every farm would have held back the hot 
winds which dry out the soil, and, as every 
tree throws off so many gallons of water 
daily, which is returned as rain, farmers 
would have benefited. 
The City of Attica, Indiana, recently sold 
16 Walnut trees for $1,000. Old settlers 
there remember when they were planted. 
Think of it: 3,500,000 acres of the best 
timber growing land in Illinois, much of 
which has not produced a dollar for 50 
years, and the freight bill on the lumber 
shipped into the state for one year has 
amounted to 28 million dollars or over $20 
per 1,000 feet, when the finest Michigan, 
Wisconsin and Minnesota White Pine for¬ 
merly sold on the Chicago docks for $8 per 
1,000 and over 30 million acres of Michigan, 
Wisconsin and Minnesota timber growing 
land have not produced one dollar for from 
50 to 80 years. 
As the bulk of lumber is used north of 
the Ohio and east of the Mississippi and 
practically every state east of the Rocky 
Mountains now uses lumber from other 
states and have millions of acres of the 
best timber producing land bringing in no 
income, it looks as if someone is to blame. 
Farmers have received as much as 394 mil¬ 
lion dollars for logs sold in a single year, 
which, with portable sawmills, they could 
saw into lumber for less than $4 per 1,000 
during the winter when there is little farm 
work. 
In many states taxes are reduced to 3 to 
5 cents an acre on land planted with trees. 
In many states there is no tax until the 
trees are cut. The savings on taxes will 
more than pay all expenses, and if walnuts 
are planted, each tree will produce from 
$3 to $6 worth of nuts yearly, which can 
be sold to candy factories. Any boy can 
make over $100 per acre yearly raising 
Christmas trees. If interested, write. 
Originally we had 822 million acres of 
timber. Today we have less than 120 mil¬ 
lion. On the Pacific Coast there are about 
925 billion feet of standing timber, and in 
the South, 125 billion. The Government 
tells us half of the softwood standing tim¬ 
ber we owned in 1900 was cut the first 30 
years, and the original timber east of the 
Mississippi would not supply us for one 
year, which, if true, how can experts claim 
what we have left, much in mountainous 
sections far from transportation, will pro¬ 
vide for 27 million pupils in school for 50 to 
75 -years whww they grow up and furnish 
the billions of feet for export, when in 1900 
we used 35 billion feet when we had 
15,503,000 pupils? 
Many do not know that trees large enough 
to make the assorted sizes of softwood lum¬ 
ber we require are from 60 to 250 years 
old, or that trees now cut on the Pacific 
Coast are from 500 to 3000 years old. Nor 
do they know that Pine, Spruce, Hemlock 
and other softwood lumber grows in cold 
countries only. 
Nor that more trees were killed by 
prairie fires in 1932 on 52 million acres 
than have been planted by all state nur¬ 
series to date, and with this evidence many 
have written me: “Your tree planting idea 
is foolish, a waste of time and money.” 
But I held on, hoping one day some one 
would realize that with untold millions of 
acres of what was our best farmland ruined 
and no place for these farmers to go, they 
would realize something must be done. 
Take Indiana: In 1905 only 5 counties 
required state aid. In 1928 there were 29. 
Today there are 41 on which taxpayers will 
throw away millions yearly, which could 
have been saved, and the original 5 counties 
are still on the list. 
This could not occur in Europe, nor would 
it in Indiana, or any other state, if county 
agricultural agents, who know conditions of 
every farm, could notify the state forester 
to deliver so many trees free of charge to 
Mr. Brown, and see they were properly 
planted for protecting his land, which would 
enable him to support his family instead of 
compelling taxpayers to. IT WILL BE 
DONE THIS WAY SOMETIME. 
Today a farmer unable to buy food and 
clothing for his children on a farm being 
ruined by soil erosion is informed by the 
state forester that the trees required for 
protecting the top soil on his land will cost 
$50. The chances are not one in 20 farmers 
on these farms ever had $50 at one time 
and they know if unable to support their 
family taxpayers must. 
Farmers in timber sections always paid 
taxes while their land would produce grain 
and they had timber to sell. Had they spent 
ONLY ONE HOUR each year planting a 
few of the millions of Walnuts or other 
tree seed that rotted on the ground they 
could have had a perpetual independent 
income. 
I may be wrong, but if those not familiar 
with soil eroded sections would cover the 
thousands of miles of farming districts of 
the Far East and the sections in this coun¬ 
try where farmers made no attempt to pro¬ 
tect the top soil on their land, they will 
understand why business men in these sec¬ 
tions who should have advised the farmers 
will eventually be no better off than the 
farmer. 
The article, “A DEBT WE OWE” writ¬ 
ten years ago by President Roosevelt, on 
soil eroded China, and lumber condi¬ 
tions, proves he knew what the people of 
this country would eventually face. He 
planted thousands of trees on his farm and 
had the leaders of Chambers of Commerce, 
Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Eagles, Woman’s, 
American Legion, Izaak Walton Leagues 
and the many fish and game and hunting 
clubs who read this article and knew what 
has happened in every country would hap¬ 
pen here, appointed committees to work 
with state foresters, and each member 
donated only $1.00, it would have saved 
$100 for every man, woman and child and 
trees would have been planted along every 
stream on every farm, which could be pro¬ 
tected from fire, and would have produced 
billions of dollars worth of lumber. It will 
cost 10 billion dollars to carry out President 
Roosevelt’s proposition as it should be in 
order to save the children of the very peo¬ 
ple who “poo-poohed” this idea from sup¬ 
porting those on soil eroded farms as long 
as they live. The poor man will never pay 
it. 
NATION’S BUSINESS tells us 2,600 
schools failed to open last fall and 20,000 
closed before April 1st; 25% of teachers 
now earn less than $750 and 85,000 less 
than $450 yearly and thousands not one 
dollar. If pupils were taught to plant trees, 
as in foreign countries, they would have 
lumber when they grow up and farmers 
would not be in the condition they are. The 
time will come when Boards of Education 
will see that pupils are taught to plant some 
of the many varieties which can be had for 
ONE CENT EACH or for 10 CENTS 
YEARLY, more assorted tree seed, which, 
if planted as cabbage or tomatoes, would in 
5 years reforest the largest farm. 
Hammond pupils planted over 2 million 
tree seed in 1929; in 1930, over 8 million; 
in 1931, pupils in the county planted more 
Black Walnuts than all state nurseries in 
the United States that year, and pupils 
throughout the state planted over 400,000 
Black Walnuts I furnished free. 
In Palestine over one million trees are 
growing from seed purchased in Europe by 
friends and myself and shipped to the 
Forestry Department. 
From October, 1931, to May, 1932, over 
50,000 more trees up to 4 years old were 
shipped through my efforts without it cost¬ 
ing taxpayers one dollar than were shipped 
by the state forestry departments of Iowa, 
Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Utah, Cali¬ 
fornia and Washington combined. 
This should convince business men in 
farming sections, who will eventually be the 
great losers, that if a committee in each 
county would assist President Roosevelt and 
the state forester millions of acres still pro¬ 
ducing crops could be saved that otherwise 
will be a total loss. 
J. H. Baldwin, Principal of the Washing¬ 
ton School, told pupils the necessity of 
planting trees and they brought enough 
pennies for 2,400. I could mention 500 
similar instances. The Calumet State Bank 
bought 20,000 trees for Hammond pupils in 
1933. Rotary and Kiwanis paid the tree 
bill for 1934. At least 900,000 Scouts, 4H 
Club members, pupils and others planted 
trees—Walnuts, Hickory Nuts, Butternuts 
and tree seed sent through this office. 
Every park superintendent could leave a 
living monument that would cause every¬ 
one to remember him for years, as many 
are now doing, by planting a variety of 
one, two and three-year-old seedlings and 
assorted tree seeds every year, which would 
cost but little and at the same time beautify 
the park and city and teach pupils how to 
raise trees at practically no expense. Here 
is an opportunity for any business man to 
invest 50 cents to $1.00 yearly for an as¬ 
sortment of tree seed to be turned over to 
the park superintendent. 
Trees are planted in other countries be¬ 
cause it is the law. In little Japan, where 
millions of families live on less than two 
acres, they plant 5 times more and Ger¬ 
many 27 times more than we do. In some 
countries the income from municipal forests 
pays all taxes, operates street cars, fur¬ 
nishes electric lights and water. 
Many would assist in this work but they 
dislike to be criticized by those who have 
an idea because they are smart enough to 
get by in times like these their children 
will. Again, I find many still think if it is 
corn, wheat, pork or cotton, it means United 
States. 
They fail to realize that before our mil¬ 
lions of acres of land were ruined by soil 
erosion, gang plows, seeders, reapers, 
threshing machines and cheap labor enabled 
us to produce grain at a low price. They 
do not know that 40 acres in many sections 
will not produce the grain formerly raised 
on 10. They also forget thousands of our 
expert farmers, stock raisers and cotton 
growers are in cheap labor countries teach¬ 
ing those who farmed with the wooden plow 
for centuries how we operate with modem 
machinery. 
Newspapers recently told about a 25,000 
acre farm in Texas. In Russia American 
experts opened up one farm of 375,000 
acres and another of 277,000 and others 
larger than we ever dreamed of. Recently 
we bought 10 million bushels of rye raised 
in the Balkans on land farmed for centuries. 
See GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE on the 
great Argentine wheat fields now being 
opened up. They will soon be shippers of 
cotton, but the 4 million pounds of “Minne¬ 
sota” turkey they sent us for our Thanks¬ 
giving dinners was the great joke. 
We import over 3 million pounds of dried 
eggs from China yearly. They have little 
grain. We have more than we can use. 
There are hundreds of other items I could 
mention. The time will come when those 
who say, “We lead the world,” will learn 
that millions of acres of grain producing 
farmland are now being opened up in for¬ 
eign countries by people who have been 
asleep for centuries. 
While in Delhi, India, I learned the great 
Sukkar Dam with over 4,900 miles of 
canals, 2 larger than Suez, irrigating over 
6 million acres, was practically completed. 
The NEW YORK TIMES tells us 2,500,000 
farmers receiving 10 to 15 cents a day 
produced over 50 million bushels of wheat 
and millions of tons of other produce the 
first year, much for our former markets. 
The HYERABAD DAM, just completed, 
irrigates over 3 million acres. Other big 
projects are under construction. 
The ASSUAN DAM, on the Nile, re¬ 
claimed 1,400,000 acres of new land by con¬ 
trolling the floodwaters from Abyssinia. 
They now raise three crops of the finest 
grain I ever saw yearly instead of one. 
We are not only losing out on our farms 
and timber that will make lumber. The 
CHICAGO TRIBUNE, March 16, tells us 
since the war Americans have invested 
$2,777,693,244.00 in factories in foreign 
countries, turning out millions of dollars of 
goods with American machinery, which, if 
made here, would benefit our workmen and 
farmers. Today it is cheaper to ship ma¬ 
chinery to foreign countries and have the 
goods made there. 
If those who have written me that teach¬ 
ing pupils to plant trees for protecting 
farmlands and providing themselves with 
lumber when they grow up is a kindergar¬ 
ten proposition would read the article in 
the SATURDAY EVENING POST, July 7, 
on Japan, a country smaller than California, 
with half of our population and only one- 
sixth of the land cultivated, operating 
plants night and day turning out millions 
of dollars worth of finished goods for the 
United States at the price of raw material, 
they would understand. 
In 1916-17, I lived there, had over 30 
firms making goods formerly made in 
Europe. Mechanics earned from 30 to 60 
cents a day while our scale was from 45 to 
65 cents an hour. 
I said then, “Give them modem machin¬ 
ery and they would lead the world.” When 
I was there in 1926 many who had little 
shops in 1916 had big factories. 
Our trouble is the very men who should 
know what is going on in cheap labor coun¬ 
tries are too busy to investigate. If they 
make a trip around the world, they gener¬ 
ally do so on one steamer. All they get is 
a good ride. To get on the inside, travel 
on the DOLLAR LINE and stop off 15 to 
30 days at any port. Cover the country 
with an automobile and a guide who knows 
the game and catch the next steamer. 
I was raised on a farm in northern Wis¬ 
consin, Commencing in 1884 I sold hospi¬ 
tal insurance for years to lumbermen in 
over 300 logging camps in Michigan, Wis¬ 
consin and Minnesota. Since then, with an 
automobile, I have covered most soil eroded 
sections east of the Rocky Mountains, trav¬ 
eled through Cuba, Jamaica, Hawaii, 
Canada, Russia and Mexico, from Los 
Angeles to Seward, Alaska, down the 
Yukon to the Arctic Circle, crossed Panama 
before the canal was built, the Atlantic 41 
and the Pacific 5 times, saw them logging 
with elephants in Burma and hauling logs 
with water buffalo in the Philippines and 
always notice the timber in every country 
I visit. 
Up to the present time printed matter on 
tree planting has been mailed to over one 
million people. 
Am prepared to ship over 5,000,000 as¬ 
sorted trees, the majority in bundles of 250 
or more at one cent each, and millions of 
assorted tree seeds from all parts of the 
world to anyone interested in this work. 
Those desiring information on trees, soil 
erosion, lumber conditions, can obtain same 
from the Forestry Department, Washing¬ 
ton, or any public library. 
The Scout 25-cent and the Izaak Walton 
League 50-cent and $1.00 packages of as¬ 
sorted seed for raising the most beautiful 
Evergreen trees grown in Japan, Korea, 
Manchuria, China and Siberia, with full in¬ 
structions and list of over 100 trees, mailed 
to anyone who will take an interest in this 
work.—F.S.B. 
P. S.—A LOT OF GENUINE 5-YEAR- 
OLD KOSTER BLUE AND COLORADO 
BLUE SPRUCE OFFERED CHEAP. 
