196 Repoet of Farmers' Iiststitutes 



words, he recommends that the land area of every farm be so 

 classified that each portion shall be used for the crop to which 

 it is best adapted. It would be folly to use for forest the meadow 

 land, or the rich fields that yield good crops of com, or wheat, or 

 potatoes. But it is equally fallacious to waste time and labor in 

 trying to grow these crops on land that is adapted only for forest. 

 It does not require much figuring to compare the returns that may 

 be got from pasturage as against wood production. If the balance 

 swings toward the latter, the indications are that the area in 

 question is forest land, and that the right crop for that section is 

 trees ; for trees — that is, forest — are as much a crop as is com. 

 A forest, to be sure, is slower in coming to the time of harvest, but 

 it yields in the end definite and absolute values. 



advantages of the farm woodlot 

 The farm woodlot serves its owner in four ways: it yields a 

 salable commodity ; it supplies local farm needs in the way of 

 posts, fuel and lumber; it provides opportunity to keep labor em- 

 ployed in winter; and it increases the sale value of the farm, or 

 at least its negotiability. 



The argument that it takes so long to grow a forest that it can 

 be of no account to the man who plants it, fails from the fact that 

 the prospective value of a half grown forest is now so well recog- 

 nized that the owner can realize on it in the same way that he 

 can on a half grown animal. 



To obtain good returns from a forest it must be properly 

 handled. It is not enough to leave it to nature. Nature is an 

 admirable servant but a poor steward. Her ideals are not at all 

 man's ideals. She has ample time to work her ways, but her aim 

 is not, as is man's, to develop the largest possible number of 

 certain kinds of trees, particularly adapted for certain definite 

 human ends. It follows that if one is to gain the desirable goal 

 of wise use he must make nature work for him and with him. In 

 other words, he must manage his forest — which is to say, prac- 

 tice forestry. 



care of the woodlot 



Forestry as regards the farm woodlot, then, means the right 

 care of the forest, its protection, and finally its proper utilization. 



