474 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



We simply maintain that much can be done in this direction through 

 pubHc and private co-operation in taxation. "A more stable kind of 

 forest ownership, divorced from manufacture to a larger degree than 

 now, must come about before the ills of the lumber business can be 

 permanently cured. . . . The extension of public forest ownership, 

 State and national alike, should have a large part in bringing this 

 about."- "Only by the efforts of the Federal Government in getting 

 control of a sufficient area on which to grow forests, as the European 

 nations are doing, and in this way to compete with the private holders 

 of forest lands, can we hope that the concentration and private control 

 of timber land will be broken.'' •' It appears, therefore, that taxation is 

 but one of the complex forces to be considered, and that ownership is 

 also of, great significance in the proper solution of the problems of 

 forest development and conservation. 



FARM WOODLOTS 



Farm woodlots present a somewhat different problem from that of 

 forests held primarily for commercial purposes. The timber on farm 

 woodlots is held or should be held for the most part not for exploita- 

 tion for profit, but rather for the purpose of supplementing the lumber 

 and fuel supply consumed on the farms. At the present time the pos- 

 session of such a supplementary supply is a matter of no little impor- 

 tance to the farmers. These considerations, coupled with others, lead 

 one to the conclusion that farm woodlots should likewise receive care- 

 ful attention in matters of taxation, and that there may even be some 

 justification in applying to them a different method from that used in 

 levying upon commercial forests. In the case of farm woodlots, there- 

 fore, which are to be retained permanently as a part of the farm, we 

 are of the opinion that they should be taxed as unimproved lands, and 

 that the timber thereon should be exempt. Only recently was there 

 brought to the attention of the writer a case in which the farm owner 

 had decided to clear his woodlot because, "everything considered, taxes 

 and all," the land was worth more to him for other purposes. At the 

 same time both the owner, a city resident, and the tenant on the farm 

 were experiencing great difficulties in securing a sufficient supply of 

 coal for domestic consumption. That the exemption from taxation of 

 the timber growth on farm woodlots will- prevent the destruction of the 

 timber we are by no means certain, but we are sure that it will tend in 

 that direction. 



Bulletin No. 114, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, p. 5. 

 Scheftel : The Taxation of Land Value, p. 419. 



