SEGREGATION OF FARM FROM FOREST L.\^•D 633 



"Tliese . . . are only a beginning, for as soon as slopes become 

 very steep or the land much broken, even standard methods of orchard 

 cultivation are precluded, and we must fall back practically upon forest 

 conditions, but zvith a chance for more than a forest product. (Italics 

 mine.) Here it becomes a matter of selecting tree crops of great 

 value . . . the olive, various nuts, . . . the persimmon . . . 

 cork oak . . . bamboo . . . and so on indefinitely." 



Prof. J. Russel Smith ^- is another exponent of these very modern 

 ideas and would add to the list oak trees, bred for fruit fulness ; the 

 honey locust, for its seed, and various other items. 



That these suggestions are far from being preposterous it is just as 

 well to recognize at once.^^ Certainly, there is no visible limit to which 

 such adaptations may not go, and the forester should not quarrel with 

 his brother expert as to the agricultural possibilities of the long future ; 

 hut as to the reasonable probabilities for the immediate future the 

 forester may very properly call upon the agronomist to bear zcit)iess. 



It is easy enough for an enthusiast to be carried beyond the bounds 

 of practicality — as foresters have very often been reminded by the 

 lumbermen. 



And these happy prognostications of the agronomist, plus local pride, 

 plus intimidation, plus precedent, all play very directly into the hands 

 of the "boomer" and of the "land-sharks." so that the long-range 

 agricultural possibilities of limited areas have, for whole regions, be- 

 come the selling slogans of the land grafters, who. under the very guns 

 of the agricultural colleges, proceed to the bountiful harvest of the 

 perennial "sucker" crop. 



The degree to which this combination of interests has succeeded in 

 "gumming up" our waste-land situation, especially in the cut-over dis- 

 tricts, is really astonishing. ^Michigan, with 12 million acres out of 36 

 million in raw condition," and with 4,833,000 acres tax delinquent in 

 1915.^^ and wdth half a million acres "foreclosed by the State for the 

 refusal or the neglect of the owner to pay taxes," can still listen to the 

 Lorelei : "A larger portion of the sand lands of the State . . . will 

 undoubtedly be utilized than is at present anticipated. For this purpose 

 fruit-growing is being resorted to where the conditions are peculiarly 

 suitable. These very light sands, instead of being farmed intensively in 

 small areas, will some day undoubtedly be operated in large tracts and 



" Geographical Reiicn'. January, 1916, p. 7. 



^' See, for instance, U. S. D. A. Farmers' Bulletin 700, "Pecan Culture," 1916. 

 " Only 35 per cent of the State is shown as "improved land" by the IQIO census. 

 " Records of Auditor General's Office, Lansing. 



