212 Report of Farmers' Institutes 



from an economic standpoint to the business of the farm and the 

 industries of the counties and state, the college made an investiga- 

 tion in 1912, in cooperation with the United States Forest Service, 

 of the wood-using industries of the state. Two men assigned by 

 the college and two from the United States Forest Service visited 

 a large proportion of the wood-using plants of the state. Those 

 not visited personally were reached with cards, and the report is 

 very accurate for the year 1912. Its accuracy and value, of 

 course, will decrease with passing years. The circulation of this 

 report brought so many inquiries regarding the marketing of 

 forest products that the college established in 1913 a Wood Utiliza- 

 tion Service, which is- in the Department of Wood Utilization. 

 This service lists the materials which woodlot owners and manu- 

 facturers have to sell, and sends these out in the form of a bulletin 

 sheet to some 600 producers and consumers. It is effective for the 

 disposal of lumber and other products which are produced by the 

 single or cooperative efforts of woodlot owners. The college is 

 finding that owners of wood-using plants are very anxious to learn 

 where they can get satisfactory supplies, especially of hardwoods, 

 and they are perfectly ready to buy the products of the woodlot, 

 providing that these products can be put into standard form and 

 delivered in sufficient quantities to make them worth while. 

 Merely getting woodlot owners to have their woodlots cut together 

 is not enough. The cooperative cutting must be followed by find- 

 ing a market for the products of the cutting. This the college be- 

 lieves can be taken care of as effectively as in any other way by 

 its Wood Utilization Service. 



The satisfactory marketing of the products of the woodlots to- 

 day will mean that the owners will be the first to solve the problem 

 of the up-building and extension of the woodlot; that is, if a 

 farmer finds that by taking care of his woodlot and by doing a 

 little reforestation in the fall or spring, he can turn his product 

 over to the buyer through cooperation with his neighbor. And with 

 such a marketing agency as the college is maintaining, it is not 

 going to be a difficult matter to convince him of the desirability 

 of reforestation and protection. The economics of IvTew York 

 State woodlands are based upon the same fundamental ideas and 

 facts as the economics of agricultural or industrial production — • 



