THE POSSIBILITIES OF FARM WOODLAND DEVELOPMENT 



UNDER THE SMITH-LEVER ACT 



BY C. R. TILLOTSON 



ACCORDING to estimates made by crop reporters of 

 the Bureau of Crop Estimates, United States 

 Department of Agriculture in December, 1917, 

 approximately 83,000,000 cords of firewood were used 

 on the farms of the United States in the year 191 7. The 

 total value of this in round figures was $283,000,000. A 



cordwood or other material as would be possible if they 

 were properly cared for. It is apparent that even con- 

 sidered from the standpoint of a revenue producing crop 

 only, farm woodlands are an asset of considerable 

 national importance. The coal shortage experienced in 

 several regions last winter has emphasized the fact that 

 farm woodlands have a value other than that of being 

 merely revenue producers. Many a farmer and com- 

 munity would have gone cold for a period last winter 

 had it not been for cordwood cut from farm woodlands 

 to meet the emergency of no coal. The same may per- 

 haps be true next winter and then again at some future 

 date. It is principally as a yearly crop, however, that 

 wood deserves attention. 



Wood produced in the farm woodlands is a farm crop 

 and there is a continual need on the farm for it. As a 

 crop it has attributes possessed to a like degree by no 



A WHITE OAK STAND 



These trees are 25 years old, 2 to 5-inch diameter, 30 feet high. The stand 

 is in excellent shape for a thinning of 2,000 to 2,500 per acre. Sprouted 

 low. Grazing has been practiced. Brighton, Livingston County, Michigan. 



similar estimate made in December, 1916, showed about 

 82,000,000 cords used in 1916, valued at $225,426,000. 

 These figures represent only the value of cordwood used 

 on the farm. They do not include the value of other 

 products, such as posts and poles used on the farm nor 

 the cordwood and other material sold from the farm 

 woodlands. With these taken into account, it seems 

 reasonable that the total value of products cut from farm 

 woodlands during each of these two years must have been 

 from $400,000,000 to $500,000,000. Probably more often 

 than not, moreover, the woodland owner through ignor- 

 ance of values received less for his woodland products 

 than they are worth. For the most part also farm wood- 

 lands are in poor condition and not producing as much 



ENGi.\E CUTTING WOOD 



Saws whole trees up J^ to 2 cords an hour. Santa Fe Springs, San 

 Bernardino County, California. 



Other on the farm. It demands little care ; will thrive on 

 poor soil ; naturally and continually regenerates itself, and 

 is marketable at all seasons and at increasing values as it 

 grows older and larger. In some regions wood is still 

 the main crop of the farm and furnishes employment for 



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