84 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



there can be no doubt. The nearness to the points of consumption, to- 

 gether with the practicability of an intensity of management that can 

 hardly be hoped for on the larger tracts, gives it a tremendous advantage 

 that the cheapness of the wild land can only in part offset. It is not un- 

 likely, however, that a very large proportion of the woodlot area will, 

 in the future as in the past, be managed as an adjunct to the general 

 agricultural work of the farm rather than as a special crop for the market. 

 The farmer will grow his own posts, his own logs for building purposes, 

 together with more or less for the market; and the material cut in the 

 early thinnings, the tops, and the branchwood will furnish his fuel. 



The value of the woodlot as a source of fuel has recently been brought 

 very prominently to the notice of the public generally by a realization 

 that it is the only bulTer that stands between the people and the higher 

 prices which the coal combine may ask the moment they have the field to 

 themselves. The people have also a fresh recollection of the fact that the 

 woodlot is the only thing that stands between them and actual suffering 

 by cold in the eVent of a coal strike. The cities and villages are more 

 interested in this matter than the farmers themselves, for if the farmer 

 has only a small supply of wood he will naturally provide for the com- 

 fort of his own family before he offers any for sale. A consideration of 

 this should lead the urban population to heartily support a moderate and 

 equitable tax rate for the farmers' woodlots. 



I have said that the Bureau of Forestry is interested in the farmers' 

 woodlot because it is the duty of the government to educate the people, 

 because the countr\' needed the wuodioi^' piodnci, and because the wood- 

 lot itself needs better attention. In regard to this third proposition I 

 shall speak only of the Michigan woodlot, which I may add, is no excep- 

 tion to the general rule in regard to the need of better attention. 



The average Michigan farm is small, containing but eighty-six acres. 

 Of this area fifty-eight acres are improved and twenty-eight unimproved. 

 Of the latter, fully twenty-five acres are capable of timber production. 

 This gives the 200,000 Michigan farms a total woodlot area of 5,000,000 

 acres. The present product of this area, as already stated, is |7,.530,000, 

 or about |1.50 per acre. Under proper management there is no reason 

 why this product should not be doubled and the woodlots meanwhile be 

 improved every year, instead of deteriorating, as they undoubtedly have 

 been during the last ten or twenty years. It may be remarked in passing 

 that the present yield of the woodlots of the State gi-eatly exceeds the 

 combined products of the orchard, grapery, and small fruit garden, which, 

 together give a total of but $5,860,000. 



In closing I shall briefly discuss the four chief faults I have so far 

 found to be of very general occurrence in the woodlots of this State. The 

 first I shall mention is the location of the woodlot. This cannot of course 

 be remedied except as new areas are planted. A portion of the woodlot 

 on every farm should be so located that it would break the force of the 

 winter winds that otherwise would strike the dwelling house and the 

 stables and make things generally uncomfortable about the dooryard and 

 barnyard. This is far from being a matter of comfort only. It would 

 mean less coal for heating the house and less food to keep the stock. 

 A windbreak for the orchard is only of less importance to that above 

 mentioned, and a windbreak for the farm is worthy of the most careful 

 thought when planting on a large scale is contemplated. 



