Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1886 [PAGE 288]

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282 people whose cultured tastes and educated perceptions give them pleasure in the beautiful and the picturesque. To one who has no love for trees as such, half their value is lost. He who can see nothing but wood for fuel or for the manufactory in a shady grove, sees nothing but the dullest and poorest side of life—but half lives—has eyes, but * sees not. While it must be insisted that the extravagant figures presented by theorists as to the value of limber as a crop are extravagant and by no means a proper basis for business, tree-planting for the many and varied purposes of health, comfort and pleasure, with financial profit as a subordinate factor, should be studied and practiced by individuals, communities and nations. It is to be hoped that the experiment of which this account is made will not be considered worthless if the expenditures are never equaled by the receipts. There is one reason for uneasiness about this, as there must be about every forest tree plantation. This is so serious that this report ought not to be closed without a word upon it. The danger of fire is a real and imminent one. The areas bearing the Conifers are liable to be burnt over during any dry time, and in autumn after the fall of the leaves the portions devoted to deciduous trees are quite as unsafe. A burning wad from a gun, a spark from a pipe, a negligent use of fire by a houseless tramp, may be sufficient to start a conflagration which shall destroy within a few hours the products of years and decades. The incendiary has an abundant chance for the practice of his most despicable and wantonly criminal art. In Europe there is some protection in the gens cV arms; American police beat the thronged streets far away from the farms. Our plantations would not multiply fast if it is understood that a guard must be furnished night and day. It is impractical to gather the fallen leaves and branches. There seems to be little offered but to take the risk. If so, this must be included among the items of obstacles and expenses.