WAR-TIME USES OF THE WOODLOT 



333 



At the close of the harvesting season, there will be a 

 large surplus of labor if the present campaign for farm labor 

 is successful. Some of this can be profitably employed in 

 wood cutting and hauling, and in this way can be kept on 

 the fanns over winter. In fact, this winter work might be 

 an important factor in a permanent " back-to-the-f arm " 

 movement. The wood cut in the fall could be burned in 

 the latter part of the winter, and enough could be cut in 

 the winter to relieve the shortage in the following winter. 



Undoubtedly economic pressure would of itself result 

 in a partial substitution of wood for coal, but since the 

 Government has thought best to stimulate the raising of 

 food in a period of abnormal prices, it should stimulate a 



FUEL F.O.B. THE FARMHOUSE 



Here is a woodlot at the owner's very door. On this small area in Stafford County, 

 New Hampshire, is a stand of pine timber that is ready to do its share toward 

 solving the fuel problem. By cutting even a slight portion of this timber the 

 owner will be contributing to the national supply of fuel, and he will be doing his 

 woodlot no harm. In the aggregate such contributions will be of vast value. 



form of production and saving which is less obvious. Even 

 if the high price of fuel were in itself sufficient to bring 

 about tliis increased wood cutting, it is evident that wide- 

 spread, promiscuous cutting of woodlots will do more dam- 

 age than good. By proper organization, this opportunity 

 can be turned to a certain extent to the improvement of 

 the woodlot and hence of the fann. 



The plan to be followed in this fuel emergency cam- 

 paign illustrates so nicely the cooperative work of the 

 States Relations and Forest Services of the Department of 

 Agriculture that it may be of general interest. Under the 

 so-called "Smith-Lever" law the States Relations Service 

 has been developing, in cooperation with the various Agri- 

 cultural Colleges, a great system of agricultural education 

 and will eventually have a county agent in every county 

 in the country. The Forest Service for about twenty years 

 has been offering information along forestry lines, and in 

 many states has cooperated with the State Foresters in 

 getting this information to the public. It is now proposed 

 to combine all these forces in a more effective campaign. 

 New Hampshire, which is one of the leading states in for- 



estry work, may serve as an example. Through the Ex- 

 tension Service of the Agricultural Colleges and the various 

 county agents an educational campaign will be started 

 immediately after haying to convince the farmers of the 

 desirability of cutting more wood and cutting it in a jjroper 

 way. Farmers have confidence in the county agents, for 

 they have found their advice is practical, and they are 

 more intimately acquainted with them than they can be 

 with the State Forester or the Professor of Forestry at the 

 College. Both of these men, with their various assistants, 



WHAT TREES ARE THESE? 



This is a woodlot which combines use and beauty, to say nothing of its interest to 

 the student of the trees. It is a stand of mixed hardwoods on a farm in Ohio. In 

 the foreground stands a young tulip 12 inches in diameter and 75 feet high. On 

 the other side is a beech, while near the man are two chestnuts. The younger 

 growth is mostly beech and maple. The woodpile is of beech, for home use. 



will furnish the technical information necessary to have 

 the work conducted properly. The County Agents will 

 select certain woodlots, well located in reference to main 

 highways, to serve as demonstrations, and a forester will 

 mark the trees which should be cut. Later the agents will 

 arrange conferences of neighboring farmers in these wood- 

 lots, and the forester will explain why he marked certain 

 trees for cutting. So far as possible the forester will visit 

 other woodlots and give the owners instructions to guide 

 them in their work. There is such a complete force of 

 foresters in New Hampshire that it is believed that the 

 whole campaign can be handled very beneficially for the 

 woodlots and their owners. The Professor of Forestry at 

 the College will be responsible for the direction of the work 

 in the two or three counties near the College ; and the State 

 Forester with his several assistants will be responsible for 

 this work in the remainder of the State. Other states 

 should follow New Hampshire's example in this emergency. 



