230 JOURNAL OF Forestry 



certain restricted areas of dense population in Europe, but does not 

 suit the United States with its present population, nor is it likely to 

 do so for a number of generations to come. It behooves foresters all 

 along the line to cultivate a stronger grasp of the values and advantages 

 of forests as a form of land utilization, and to be less deferential to 

 the agriculturist on this score. 



The considerations favoring the classification of a given tract of 

 land, or parcel of it, for forest purposes can be conveniently grouped 

 under three heads : 



I. General advantages of forest over agricultural crops as a form 



of land utilization. 

 II. Indirect utility of forests. 

 III. Profits to be expected from growing of timber. 



I. 



General advantages of forest over agricultural crops as a form of 

 land utilization include : 



(a) Forests form Nature's climax form of land utilization over the 

 largest part of the country, and forest crops can be grown continuously 

 by natural reproduction with the least possible efifort and expense. 



(b) Forests yield the widest and most varied range of useful prod- 

 ucts of any kind of crop which can be grown. While production of 

 almost any agricultural crops can readily be overdone, especially locally, 

 this is hardly conceivable for forest production because of the great 

 variety of products or forms in which this crop can be harvested. 



(c) Forest crops can be harvested when it best suits the conven- 

 ience of the owner or the demands of the market, to a much greater 

 extent than can agricultural crops, and form a more readily' salable 

 crop, in its great variety of products, in the world market than do 

 agricultural crops as a whole. 



(d) There is too much improved land in the United States for 

 domestic demands, nearly 5 acres per capita as against two-thirds rods 

 in northwestern Europe which has about the same average natural fer- 

 tility of soil and no better average climatic conditions. In the State 

 of Virginia there were 800,000 less acres of land in crops in 1915 than 

 in 1908, yet the production in 1915 was much greater, due to improved 

 methods of agriculture.* Too much improved land is the cause of so 

 much idle cleared land in the United States. The present improved 



From report of the State Commission of Agriculture and Immigration. 



