138 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



As a rule, the farmer does not seek the advice of the forester until 

 there is enough salable timber on the place to invite the attention of 

 timber buyers, or until he is in pressing need of money and wants to 

 know how much his timber is worth and how he can market it. This 

 gives the forester his opportunity, and the successful handling of the 

 market end of the proposition will often be the measure of his success, 

 from the farmer's standpoint. 



To the forester this does not often present the ideal conditions under 

 which he can fully put in practice the best forest management, but it 

 does give him the chance to demonstrate to a practical man that for- 

 estry has a place in farm management, and it comes at a time when the 

 farmer is ready to do something. 



For the past twenty years the foresters of the U. S. Forest Service 

 and those engaged in State work have examined the woodlands of 

 private owners and advised them how to handle their lands. ]\Iuch of 

 this advice has no doubt been excellent, but the trouble has been that 

 in probably 50 per cent of the cases the good advice of the foresters was 

 wasted, and in such cases little, if anything, was done to improve con- 

 ditions. The reports submitted were too elaborate, the language used 

 too technical, and the advice given often too impracticable to be trans- 

 lated into action by the farmer. The recommendations generally called 

 for the practice of more knowledge of forestry than the average farmer 

 possessed. His inability to understand the treatment to be given or 

 fear of making mistakes deterred him from doing anything, or resulted 

 in carrying out the recommendations in such a modified form as to 

 render them practically useless. There was evidently something wrong ; 

 the trouble seemed to be partly in the failure of the forester to follow 

 up the initial step or failure to provide the farmer with the necessary 

 expert assistance to put the recommendations into effect. 



After making, no doubt, many mistakes and experiencing many diffi- 

 culties, the writer undertook some years ago to work out a plan of co- 

 operation between the Forestry Department and the farmers of the 

 State for marketing timber and other forest products. The plan evolved 

 has been in successful operation for several years, demonstrating its 

 practical value, and I feel safe in presenting it as a working basis for 

 those who have had difficulty in getting small woodland owners to 

 practice forestry. 



