Friday, October 7, 1921
The Convention was called to order at ten o'clock by President Linton.
The President: The first on our program this morning will be the report of the Committee on Uniform Bill for Roadside Planting. I will ask the chairman, Mr. Littlepage, to make the report.
Mr. Littlepage: The committee met last night after adjournment and considered different methods of getting this bill (a copy of which I now present) before the various states, and after some deliberation it was decided to report, on behalf of the committee, as follows:
That the committee,—the same committee which has been appointed,—be authorized by the association to prepare in proper and simple form a sufficient number of copies of this bill, to be accompanied by a letter, formulated by the committee, which letter will set out substantially three things:
First: Call the governor's attention to the fact that this bill is the one adopted by the State of Michigan, but that it should, of course, be modified to comply with the special judicial or road machinery of each particular state.
Secondly: A short argument in behalf of this character of legislation.
Thirdly: A request to each governor that he refer the bill to his attorney general to put it in proper form to fit into the machinery of his particular state, and that he also refer it to his appropriate state board of forestry, agriculture or what-not.
We suggest, as I said before, that this committee be authorized to prepare a letter along those lines, to be accompanied by a copy of the bill, and that, after it is prepared and ready, it be sent out by either the president or the secretary of the association. It was also thought by the committee to be desirable, at the same time that this is sent to the governor of each state, to send copies to the various agricultural and horticultural journals of the respective states, that being done with the view of getting some publicity. Then, too, the committee thought that it might be well, at that time, for the respective members of the association in these various states to write to their representatives in the legislature calling attention to this bill.
Now that is the report of the committee, and, Mr. President, I move that this report be adopted and the committee instructed to act along those lines.
(Motion seconded and carried, and the report of the committee was adopted unanimously.)
The President: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I consider that we have performed a most important task in the pioneer work connected with roadside planting in America. There is no question but that with this association the idea first originated; and the work to date along those lines in the United States has been brought about by the Northern Nut Growers' Association. It is a work in which I, personally as well as officially, as you know, have been greatly interested and the unanimous adoption of the committee's report, endorses that line of work. I wish to thank you, individually and collectively, for your interest and the action which you have taken.
Mr. Littlepage: I feel that our president in this instance has hit a high-water mark. He has taken hold of a very important idea and has developed it. After making an observation or two I am going to move a vote of appreciation to our president and accompany it with a vote of thanks to Senator Penney for coming down here from Michigan and lending his aid and enthusiasm.
We listened last night to a discussion about this roadside planting. As I observed before it is not without its difficulties the same as everything else; but this proposition extends to the various state boards of horticulture, highway, or what-not, one of the greatest and finest opportunities. Personally I believe in nut trees; but you must first get the public with you. Suppose you had a highway into Lancaster lined on either side for a half mile with pink weigelias in the spring. You would have the whole population going up and down that highway looking at the display. And the pink weigelia is almost a fool-proof shrub. It grows without cultivation and grows very rapidly and blooms in the greatest profusion. Suppose in mid-summer you had another highway lined with hydrangeas. I believe a particular one that is hardy is called paniculata grandiflora. It is a fool-proof shrub also, requires very little care and comes on after the other flowers go. It also can be produced very cheaply. You would have the population looking at and admiring the blooms and it would inspire, in each one of those individuals, a desire to go and do likewise. Suppose you had a half mile of sweet gum trees. If you go down through the counties of Pennsylvania now you will see the sweet gums—some of them a deep dark purple, some of them a bright golden yellow, some of them red, some of them with all the colors and all summer a beautiful foliage—suppose you had a half mile of those leading into a street of any city in America. The population on Sunday would drive out there and admire their beauty. It affords a wonderful opportunity. The individuals who care for those trees and shrubs, while moving up and down the highway caring for them, will be carrying with them a little university of horticultural knowledge. The average farmer thinks it is a terrible thing to spray. It is the simplest thing in the world as you know. This machinery by which these trees and plants and shrubbery would be cared for would be a moving university up and down the highway teaching the farmers how to care for their trees. Mr. Rush's trees which we saw yesterday were the finest examples of well cared for trees. You could not travel over the country and find trees showing a finer degree of care. Nobody could look at those trees without feeling that he would rather give a little more care to his trees. So that, if this idea is carried out, as it will be, it will become popular with the various state boards. They like to do things that are popular or that please the people.
As I said at the commencement of my remarks I am going to take the liberty of moving a vote of deep appreciation to the president (Mr. Linton), and also a vote of thanks to Senator Penney.
(Motion seconded and carried unanimously.)
The President: I desire to thank you, one and all, for this vote of appreciation. My connection with the Northern Nut Growers' Association has been of a most pleasant character. I have found a group of men and of women who are interested not only in their own welfare but in the welfare of the race. What we have started today—or rather completed so far as organization is concerned—will do as much good in the United States in the next decade as any movement that has been started by any organization or association. It means re-forestation on a larger scale with right trees and right plants, as stated by my friend Mr. Littlepage. A new start will be made along those lines. The poor trees will be cast aside and the next generation will have trees and bushes and plants that not only will be beautiful to the eye but will be beneficial to mankind and to those birds and animals that we desire to have around us.
The greatest credit should be given to those of this association who in a scientific way have endeavored to bring about better varieties of nuts, better varieties of the products of trees, and their names certainly should go down in history with that of Burbank, or with those of other men who have devoted their lives to this kind of advancement. I am sure that will be the result. I know that as the message goes down along the line to the various states, their efforts will at least be recognized as having been beneficial and advantageous to all.
I want again to thank every one of you for the kindness that you have extended towards me and to my colleague, Senator Penney, who is most actively engaged in this work. Situated as he was—a most prominent member of the Michigan legislature—he was able to promote the very work in our Wolverine State that we today are undertaking to bring about in the United States, and I would call upon Senator Penney to say a word in this connection.
Senator Penney: Mr. President, it seems to me that after all these remarks have been made, this subject has been very well covered. I was very much interested in the remarks of Mr. Littlepage because he spoke of different ornamental trees and shrubs with which I am not familiar and which are not grown in our part of the country.
Our esteemed president, Mr. Linton, is doing wonderful work up in Saginaw at the present time in conjunction with our superintendent of public parks. He is helping to lay out some of our parks and to plant trees and shrubs there. One gentleman of Saginaw furnished the means to buy one thousand trees and the matter was put in charge of Mr. Linton to see that they were properly planted. This work and similar work that Mr. Linton and I have undertaken to promote and to push. We have done similar things in regard to the promotion of good highways. We have absolutely no interest in stone quarries or gravel pits or in any kind of contracts for the building of roads; yet we have spent several hundred dollars or more in going about Michigan giving talks at different meetings and promoting roads. One of the things that Mr. Linton tried to promote was this tree planting bill. Inasmuch as I was in the legislature I had the opportunity of helping to put this work across. We have a wonderfully good highway commissioner in our state. He is enthusiastic over this proposition. While our bill was passed just a short time ago, he has already planted eighteen miles of trees in one locality, and, he said, at very little cost. Just think what might be done throughout the United States. Suppose the prominent highways throughout the United States were planted with useful and ornamental trees, beautiful shrubs and things of that kind. Wouldn't it be a wonderfully beautiful and useful thing for the country?
In closing I wish to thank Mr. Littlepage and the other members of this association for the very kind treatment we have received here.
The President: We are fortunate in having a paper that was prepared and will be presented by our esteemed treasurer Mr. Bixby, and I take pleasure in calling upon him at this time.