Rural School Leaflet. S75 



present total consumption. This indicates that, through the present 

 failure to make these woodlots serve their full use as timber producers, 

 a formidable waste of a great resource is taking place, in which the 

 farmers are themselves the heaviest losers. Even a thrifty farmer 

 seldom gives thought to his woodlot beyond helping himself to what he 

 wants from it, not recognizing that in consequence he is paying taxes on 

 partially idle land. With better methods the woodlot could be made to 

 contribute substantially to the prosperity of its owner. 



The farmer is a hea\y consumer of wood; it is his usual fuel, and it is 

 in constant demand for fencing, construction material, and miscellaneous 

 purposes. A scarcity of timber affects him seriously, and it is well 

 worth his while to learn in the East how to make his woodlot grow the 

 highest grade product and the largest quantity possible, and in the 

 scantily timbered portions of the West how to plant trees whix:h will 

 supply his needs. Protective planting also is important in many regions 

 to shelter the home and the stock and to lessen the effect of drying winds. 

 For many reasons, in every part of the country, a knowledge of forestry 

 is of practical value to the farmer. 



Timber is as truly a crop as corn or cotton. If mismanaged, the land 

 will not produce a full crop. To use his woodland intelligently, as to 

 use any other part of his farm, the farmer must know, first, what it 

 will- pay best to grow, and second, how to get the largest yield and the 

 best quality to the acre. This means that he must know the relative 

 rate of growth of. different kinds of trees, their special requirements, 

 :their effect upon each other in the forest, and how to harvest his crop 

 when it is mature without impairing the future value of the forest. 



The teaching of these things as a part of an agricultural education 

 is entirely possible, nor is it necessary for the farmer to pursue the full 

 course of training of the professional forester in order to learn them. 

 ■The agricultural college can easily make a place for forestry among its 

 other courses, and thus enable its graduates to carry away a knowledge 

 of the problems which they would be called upon to meet in their own 

 localities, sufficient for all practical purposes. But to propose a separate 

 course in forestry in rural schools would be altogether unwise. What 

 is needed is rather recognition of the fact that forestry is a part of agri- 

 culture and should, equally with stock raising or dairy management 

 or the tilling of field crops, be considered in any plan for teaching the 

 fundamentals of agricultural science. 



The forest is essentially a society of trees. To know how to use the 

 forest man must understand the laws of life of this society, which is 

 more than the sum of the individuals which compose it. The science 



