Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-12
the difficulty of obtaining suitable stock for

agation of the immense quantities necessar
for the redemption OF the treeless region. Il
overcome the hazards attending such busi
ness, the nurseryman must have unusual facil
tiles of production, and unusual facilities o
shipment to enable him to offer his stock q
prices low enough to induce the average farme
to plant extensively enough to amount to any
thing. He may conscientiously do his leve
best for his customers, deliver his stock II
prime condition to their nearest railroad depot
| at the exact time ordered, only to find it hal
| laid exposed to the effects of wind, sun o.
| frost until it has become worthless. To en-
force his claims for payment, entails litigation
and bad feelings. Unless he is in position tC
select his customers, and deal only
with honorable men, he is com
PEELED by the force of such circumstance
to charge hundred per cent above fair pro
| fit, and that of itself is a deadener on the
whole business 1 have tried for many years tc
educate the farmer to grow his owr
| trees from seeds and cuttings, but
am compelled to say it won't work. While
there is no easier or pleasanter thing in nature
than the propagation of forest trees from seeds
and cuttings, yet the average farmer has
neither the patience or skill to do it success
fully Many do it, and do it well, but the
great mass do not succeed.
Years ago, in one of my papers on forest
culture, suggested the idea of State nurseries,
something like this: Let the State select a
tract of its own land in number of suitable
localities convenient for the people to get trees
from. Plant forest tree nurseries on each one
of them. Put them in charge of competent
men When of suitable size, the trees to be
absolutely free of cost to every citizen in the
State who has piece of gronnd properly fitted
and cultivate them Let the farmer under the
direction of the foreman of the nursery, select
and dig such trees as he can
most profitably handle. He thus
gets just what he wants fresh from the ground
and just when he wants it. Judiciously man.
aged, the State could, at the end of twenty
years, have very valuable tract OF timber
left after supplying this great want. These
nurseries thinned out to twelve feet apart each
way, would in twenty years be converted into
tracts of timber land that would sell for
enough to defray all legitimate cost. The
State of Iowa, bya generous and liberal law
granting exemption from taxation, has sue
ceeded in rearing magnificent cultivated for
ests, which, coaxed into existence by this wise
act, now furnish fuel, shelter and ornament,
and stand as monuments to perpetuate the en-
lightened craftsmanship that called them
forth.
For years I have drafted similar bills, placed
them before the legislature, and they either
are reported as unconstitutional, or not re-
ported at all.
If the constitution prohibits, or stands in
the way of so important a work as we are en-
gagged in, il is about time it was either amend
ed, or new and better one substituted for it.
PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
OF this l can only speak in general terms
Little reliance can be placed on any tree plant
ing statistics yet returned by the township
assessors Returns from the local United
States land offices giving entries under the
timber culture act, would be considered good
evidence by most people, of the progress of
forestry. Unfortunately, however, when we
ego behind the returns" and out on the broad
prairie where the land is, and where the trees
ought to be, we don't see them. Yet it must
be borne in mind that most of such entries
have been made within three years; that the
law allows three years in which to plant the
first five acres; that earold trees, seeds and
cuttings are almost invariably used in
planting, and that in the nature
of things such plantations cannot make
any show for some years yet.
The rapid extension of new lines of railroad
have, within year, given double value to hun
dreds of tree claims, that probably otherwise
never would have been planted. They are now
too valuable to become forfeited for lack of the
cost of planting them. The constantly in
creasing correspondence and demand for in
formation on the subject of forestry is to me
the best evidence of an unusual awakening on
this subject.
The impending danger is being realized more
forcibly this winter than ever before For the
first time in our history, hundreds
of our prairie settlers have been
compelled to burn their furniture, their farm
implements, the floors out of their houses,
their stables and out houses TO prevent death
from freezing. Others, with plenty of bed
ding, have laid in bed days at time to keep
warm. Others have bought pine lumber at
SIT to $50 per thousand, and burned it to save
life They have seen the iron horse, seeming
ly the most perfect embodiment of power,
succumb to the elements, either dead, or more
helpless than sucking infant The ut
ter impotence of any human or mechanical
agency to cope successfully with the elements
when fairly aroused, is too well known to
more than casually advert to, and with this
knowledge staring us full in the
face, what nonsense, what utter
folly to encourage the idea that the rail-
roads will always supply our treeless region
with fuel. They can't do it, and it is already
becoming an interesting question how they
can supply their own wants in this direction
not only fuel, but ties and building material.
There are those who attempt a solution of
the fuel question with hay. This, at the best,
is but temporary and evanescent expedient.
As any agricultural region becomes settled,
the question of fodder necessary for the main
tenance of the horses, cattle and mules neces-
sary to run it, is at once prominent. 1t is
worth too much to burn as common fuel
Straw, firmly pressed in suitable
sized blocks, would be more
feasible material, but in densely
settled countries, straw is too much needed
for fodder to be used as fuel.
THE ONLY REMEDY
is to plant trees, and when every farmer has
his own ten-acre patch of tirewood on his Owu
quarter section, the fuel question is solved
and solved for good
Gentlemen, how to get down to business and
do the work necessary to promote sucha mil
lennial condition Of affairs over our great
prairie region is what we are here for to-
night.
1t will be five years tomorrow since this as
sociation was formed. The legislature by act
of March I'd, 1876, appropriated $4,000 to
promote the objects of the association. Since
then it has appropriated q think in 1917
$4,000 more, making total appropriation of
$500, covering period of about five years
less than one thousand dollars per annum
Since its organization this association has
caused to be printed and circulated
more than two million pages of