Mr. Riehl: I think you folks are very unfair to me. You have said everything I wanted to say before you called on me and I really don't know what else I can say. I had in mind what Professor Smith has been saying to me, and what some of you people have already said, that it is time for you people here to wake up. You don't know what you have got. You are like people in many other sections of the country, they don't appreciate what they have at their very doorways. If I were a young man, I would come here and plant pecan and walnut trees, but I am too old now to make such changes. In a few years you may remember what I have said. The walnuts are as profitable as anything else, and much more so than any farm crop you can grow. Nothing will produce as much value and with as little trouble as nut trees. I am convinced of that.
Professor Smith: If they would follow your suggestions they would soon have another Garden of Eden.
The President: Professor Smith has reminded us that the crops in the Garden of Eden were purely tree crops, and they grew without effort. But after the fall Adam and Eve had to go out and cultivate the soil and raise corn. Probably in that garden they had pecans and walnuts. I believe that is his theory and it may be good.
Professor Smith: O, beg your pardon, that is in the book of Genesis. The text describes nothing whatever except trees, and then Adam fell and had to dig in the ground and make his bread by the sweat of his face.
Mr. Potter: Is the tree of knowledge the pecan tree?
The President: I don't know. Can any one else say?
Professor Smith: My remarks on the Garden of Eden were brought out by what our President said, but I have published others that are not very lengthy and you can buy them.
The President: Let's hear from Mr. Lockwood.
Mr. Lockwood: Dr. Knapp wants me to expose my ignorance and tell you the crimes I committed and intended to commit. It was about three years ago that we purchased a little over a thousand acres in Gibson County, near Grayville, and about three hundred and fifty acres of it were in timber. We decided to clear up as rapidly as possible all the forest land and cultivate it in corn. Now comes the crime which Dr. Knapp wants me to expose and I am going to confess it. We deadened probably a hundred of as fine pecan trees as you ever saw, from six to eighteen inches in diameter, and Dr. Knapp heard about it and visited our farm, and it was on his account principally that we quit cutting the pecan trees. Now if anybody else cuts them we have them arrested. We have the second best orchard in Gibson County. I have joined the association and came here to get a line on you and I have got a good many good things by coming. I would like to have you visit our farms. We have some very fine trees to see and I will also give you something to eat, because I am the chief cook. I want to emphasize the remark one member made that it is a great work these men are doing. You get that impression when you come to the meeting, and it shows great sacrifice and love for their fellow men.
The President: That is very good, Mr. Lockwood. Now Dr. Knapp will tell us what he thinks.