64 THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



THE TREATMENT AND THE ECONOMIC POSSIBILITIES OF THE 

 FARM WOODLOT OF SOUTHERN MICHIGAN. 



C. A. DAVIS. 



I. ^A'henever the farm woodlot is mentioned in a gatliering of farmers, 

 or of other people who may be supposed to be interested in the subject, 

 it is often the case that tlie mention is received with scant interest or. 

 in many places, with none at all. On the other hand, it has been the 

 theme of many an important and interesting paper, and mnch has been 

 prophesied for it as a source of future timber supply for the State, and 

 it may well repay us to devote a short time to the consideration of its 

 present status in Michigan, the possibilities for the future, and to con- 

 sider both matters from the economic as well as the strictly technical 

 point of view. As the result of presenting the matter before the farm- 

 ers of the State at various times and places, the writer has learned that 

 when the farm woodlot is mentioned, the average listener has imme- 

 diately a picture arise before his mind's e^^e, of some particular woodlot, 

 probably his own or his father's, a small tract of woods, which, in gen- 

 eral, may be described as neglected. If it is of the type of the usual 

 woodlot in the southern part of the State, the picture is not one to in- 

 spire enthusiasm, for it will be that of a small tract of from a few acres, 

 to perhaps, in unusual cases, 100 acres in extent, from which the best 

 trees of the more valuable or more saleable kinds have been cut, and 

 which now has a rather thin growth of old, branchy, gnarled and crip- 

 l)led veterans, the remnants of the original foi-est, and some younger 

 growth of various sizes of pole stage, generally of inferior kinds, which 

 have an unthrifty appearance and which are making small growth. Of 

 the younger growth below the pole stage there is little, in spite of the 

 fact that the crown-cover of the woodlot is thin, for the ground itself 

 is usually open to light and sweep of Avinds, and these have encouraged 

 the growth of grass and weeds until the OAvner has been tempted to 

 use the land for pasture for his stock and as a result, all or nearly 

 all reproduction of useful tree species is stopped. With such a picture 

 in his mind, it is no Avonder that the listener thinks at once that the 

 Avoodlot is really a matter of no consequence and pays no more than 

 perfunctory attention to Avhatever is said in regard to it. 



It is true that not all Avoodlots Avould present the picture that has 

 been imagined, but it is probably true that for one better than this 

 that Avould arise before our sui)posed average listener, several Avorse ones 

 Avould ai)i)ear. The Avhole subject of the treatment of the Avoodlot has been 

 in disrepute, if we put the matter in concrete form, partly because the 

 matter Avas considered of no importance and partly because no one 

 has offered remedies Avhich seemed to meet the needs of the case. 

 - Let us consider for a few moments, the status of the first of these 

 contentions, namely, that the woodlot is a matter of slight importance 

 to the farmers of Michigan, and so can be neglected. In the last report 

 of the Secretary of State on farm statistics, that for 1002-8, the area 

 of the land in farms in the State is given as 14,7()8,150 acres of Avhich 



