As a delegate to the National Tax Association convention at White Sulphur Springs, it has been my lot to have been named on both federal and state committees, with the idea of exempting from taxation those who would produce trees for the future. My experience has been that exemption from taxation for the purpose of producing our future forests is a wrong one. The sentiment of the people is against exemption from taxation, and I do not know how it may be practically applied to the growing of the forests that our country must have in the future. But the individual will not carry out the work, and the corporations will not undertake it, so it devolves upon the government of the state to reproduce those forests. The government lives for a long period in between many life-times, and ours should live as long as the earth. It is therefore up to us to reproduce those forests which we once had and, as all things come back to the state, then the state should reforest.
Next the roadways are to be considered. Roadways will grow a better class of timber and trees; they are rich in soil, generally, because they pass through the most fertile regions of the country and, up to this time, they have been waste land. I believe that the farmer is right in his wish that trees which shut in the roadsides should be cut away, that the sunlight should be let in and the roads hard-surfaced. We saw in our trip that where the trees shaded the roads they were almost impassable at times, while in the open places, they were fine.
In Michigan we took up the question of roadside planting, and Senator Penny fathered the bill, the pioneer measure, that caused our state to plant roadways. We have a very competent landscape engineer in charge of one of the departments, and he is planning to grow roadside trees, using nut-bearing trees, so that the next generation will profit largely by the work of today. And this is just because of this association.
When I was honored with your presidency, one of the features of the work we carried on was in getting nut trees from historic places, especially from Mt. Vernon. The Superintendent of Mt. Vernon very kindly told us that we could have the walnut crop from trees that were started there during Washington's time, and the only stipulation was that we should not commercialize the idea; that those nuts were priceless, and that we should not receive any money for them, but should distribute them in the schools and in a public way cause interest in the planting of nut trees. That very movement brought about wonderful results, and today there are from five to ten thousand walnut trees growing in our state, about the height of a man, all of them having come from Mt. Vernon.
On our way through from White Sulphur Springs, we passed through the home of Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, and we found some magnificent nut trees planted by Jefferson. Some of our best trees today are from those given to Washington by Thomas Jefferson; and I arranged at Mt. Vernon to secure some of the nuts from the trees Jefferson planted there.
Just yesterday Mr. Dodge, the superintendent at Mt. Vernon, again said that we could have the crop for this year. We will have a number of bushels from there, although the trees have not been as fruitful this year as usual, and I leave it to you to judge as to what we should do with those nuts this year. Some of you have ideas about this, and I would be glad to adopt them. But when the fact is known that the walnuts can be secured in that way the entire country will want them. At present I have letters from Texas and other places asking for some of Mt. Vernon's nuts. It is a movement that will cause more people, in my opinion, to have nut trees than any other, and we should push it to the limit.
I had a letter from Henry Ford's secretary, asking for a dozen trees which might be planted at Mr. Ford's place in Michigan. Mr. Ford is doing great good, so far as the saving of the forests is concerned. He has immense tracts of land where he is caring for every root and branch.
Letter from C. F. Bobler, Landscape Engineer in Michigan:
The laws of Michigan, as you are well aware, encourage the planting of trees and shrubs by the highway authorities, and protect existing roadside trees from injury or destruction. Under those laws considerable planting has already been done, and in such planting a liberal use has been made of the nut-bearing varieties of trees, especially the black walnut, which is indigenous to much of Michigan.
Besides the economic value of nut trees, on account of their food products while growing and their timber products when mature, they are generally very attractive in appearance, and, therefore, very well adapted to roadside planting.