Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-05-30
FACTS ABOUT FORESTRY.
Leonard 3. Hodges EnliShtenS the Benightcd
Minds of the Minnesota State HOr-
ticultural Society.
Some Good Practical Suggestions as to the
Best Methods OF Cultivating Trees
on Our PrairieS
The Kind OF Trees Adapted to Forestry and
the Way tn Prepare the Soil for Their
Accommodation Pointed Out

State Horticultural society to address them on
the subject of Forestry, offer this paper. No
economic question of the present has greater
! bearing on the future WE'LL being of the State
| than forestry l use the term State in its
broadcast sense. The old-fashioned word,
| commonwealth, is more significant, lnasmucn
~ on its broad face it suggests the idea that
| there is species of wealth that can be enjoyed
| by all tho citizens of the State. The wealth of
! forestry, with attendant comforts, is of that
| kind, and its blessings reach out beyond the
! immediate control of the legal proprietor Of
| the forest and embrace withiu its anne iorating
| Influences his more immediate neighOors,
| whether friends or foes; and go, as the good
! work goes on, from one neighbornoOd 10 an
| other, the actual wealth first developed by a
! few, t. q very large extent becomes the COM
mon wealth of the many.
The pioneer farmer out on Our oceanic pral-
| ries WHO surrounds his quarter section with Il
broad belt of forest trees, protects not only ms
! own fields and crops from the damaging effects
| OF storms, but also to great extent protects
| his adjOinlng neighbors, who i'll common with
! HIM enjoy the wea 18th he has developed, and he
! can no more prevent them from the enjoyment
| thereof, than from the benefits of sunlight or
rainfall which are the common wealth OF ali or
! Coils creatures. Hence take the ground that
| it is not only eminenuy proper, but that 1t Is
! the 6ury Of the State in every suitable way, to
| ala by appr' PIRATE legislation i'll the develop
mant or creation OF this kind of common
wealth. Further on in this paper, if find /
have room, / shall advert more fully TO the
pressing necessity of State and national legis
| lat!cn for the protection and encouragement OF
forestry, and il succeed in stirring up
TIE WHOLE LEGISLATIVE MENAGERIE
to 4 realizing sense Of their duty in this behalf,
/ shall teal that have not lived in Vain. For
estyr. in it's true sense and meaning, as |
TT,larSt9rI II consists in tine T|ay cDitjVa-
ton and management of larger areas of ground
than Las been attempted; III the rearing of
long lines OF Wind breaks or belts OF forest
timber, 80 arranged as to arrest the force of
prevailing winds: in the care, protection and
preservation of our native forests, and in en-
CouragiEg aad assisting nature IN the rehabill-
tation of extensive tracts of original forests
that Rave been destroyed by fire, and whore,
| phGniX-lEe, new crop of young forest trees
are spr:ngIEg up from the ashes. In its broad
est its scope is larger but so far as we are
practically concerned, this is about the size OF
ii. The DEVELOPMENT of new forests and the
preservation OF the native forests III Minnesota
the particular subdivisions Of forestry
which more nearly concern u.s. Geographical
~ located as ne State of Minnesota is ION the
eastern border, and including within her
boundaries portion of that immense interior
treeie-s region which stretches from the south
ern limit of the Staked rlains in Iex&s to the
Saskatchewan, and nearly to Hudsons bay on
Western Iowa and the Big woods of Mime
sofa on the east, to the foot hills of the Rocky
mountains on the West-practically taking IN
20 deg. of latitude and 10 deg. of longitude
in round numbers covering l, 600 900 square
miles, or $40. 600, 900 acres-enough for
I. 600, 600 farms of 100 acres each, and room
for 20, 600, 800 of people,, the subject under
discussion is necessarily one Of great local in
tereBt to Minnesota, as well as the nation at
large This vast 'interior" region is
PRACTICALLY TREELESS.
The exceptions are portions of the coteaus IN
the vicinity of the Si=set0n reservation, the
Black Hills, Turtle mountains, Pembina
mountains, and narrow strips and small groves
along soma Of the water courses and Iakes-ln
comparison with the whole, hardly enough to
swear by With such a neGhbor adjoining
and thanking rs in the rear, [ have often
thought while traverslng the great prairies Of
Dakota that, for all practical purposes, she
was d part Of, or, at the furthest, simply
suburb of Minnesota; and it is extremely DIFF
ticult for Minnes0tlan to talk forestry without
taking cognizance of Dakota as prominent
factor in the solution OF our own forestry
questions. Not only Dakota, but her adjacent
neiShbor, Manioba--the Prairie Province
with the vast outlying prairie region stretching
wet and northwest TO the feet OF the Rockies
all That open region through which the fierce
blasts of the polar regions find unobstructed
passage. culmnat ng in Minnesota ''blZzarGs;"
and in the other direction the vast prairie, arid
region of tbs Southwest whence came thu
sImo3n-l like winds so whitening and antagonis-
TIC to growing crops, forest culture and human
comfort. AL these are factors not to be ig-
nored. They force themselves upon you, as
h"rtlculturiss, as your most bitter, deter
mined, uncOmprOmlslng foes: blasting your
hopes, destroying at one sweep the results of |
years of patient toll. confounding your calcu- |
lations, and every now and then setting you up |
on your beam ends in the most unexpected |
manner. The prairie farmers suffer from the |
same causes to an equal, if not greater extent, !
than yourselves, and their misfortunes entail |
corres pending disasters upon our commercial |
and manufacturing interests Now that we |
have finally settled up our old railroad bonded |
Indebtedness, and on basis satisfactory to our |
creditors, the enemies of Minnesota have moth |
ing left them to harp on but our climate, and |
even that we can so modify by tree planting, |
as not only to temper the wind to the shorn |
lamb" but
DIsARI OUR ENEMIES
of their last remaining weapon. These elemen-
tai forces are undoubtedly all right and play an |
important part in the economy of nature. We |
have only to guard against them when on the |
rampage, and in doing this forestry is the |
prime factor, the central figure in the whole |
business. have neither time patience TO |
even attempt to answer the puerile arguments
and unfounded assertions thattr won't grow |
on our Western prairies. Life is too short to
fool any portion of it away in that direction. |
Facts, not theories, claim our attention. The |
fact that within thu last ten years hundreds of |
groves, containing millions of healthy, vigorous
young forest trees, are now growing far out il |
tie tIeeless region, where science had preor-
dained and doomed the work an impossibility,
must be acknowledged. The fact that young |
groves of forest trees are now being success
fully grown on the line of the Northern Pacific |
railroad, away out on and beyond the Tooth |
meridian, has also got to be admitted, science
and it's votaries to the contrary notWIthstand-
ing.
Where weeds and grass will grow, there also
forest trees grow, and where they grow |
the more agriculture will succeed, and the bot
ter you know how to do your work, the larger
the measure of your success. L am assured
that am expected to give good deal of this
sort Of knowing how to do 1t, in as few words
as possible Having written and spoken SO
II UGH on this matter, and time and again reit-
Grated the same Instructions. IT seems to me |
to again repeat what has been SO
often sad by myself, bur has also frequently
been better said by others Like the thrice
told tale, l am sometimes weary with the hear
ing of it, and when l am asked by apparently
Intelligent men if trees will really grow out on
those great prairies, | feel very much as the |
preacher did who, after having devoted the
best part of his life to the faithful preaching
of the gospel, was astonished one day by one
OF his congregation asking him if it really was
a fact that Christ was dead
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL.
This is the first thing to do, and is Of para
mount Importance. Unless properly doue |
failure is The rue-snccess the exception
Get your ground in condition to produce
rafting good corn crop, and you have taken q |
long step in the right direction. In order to do |
this in commencing de novo, break the prairie |
sod in JUNE. Break it about three inches
deep. Be vigjlant and careful in this very
important preliminary work. See that your