PERIODICAL LITERATURE 



SILVICULTURE, PROTECTION, AND EXTENSION 



Much has been written from time to time in 



Forestry this country regarding the advisability of estab- 



and lishing fully stocked stands of timber on aban- 



Farming doned farm lands and on idle fields that are a 



part of operated farms. It is conceded by all 



that the farmer must to a constantly increasing degree give vy^ell directed 



and conscious care to the non-agricultural parts of his farm. 



Throughout many parts of Nevv^ England as well as elsewhere many 

 abandoned farm lands have come in to acceptable stands of timber and 

 plantations have been made in constantly increasing numbers in 

 recent years. Acceptable natural stands, however, have more often 

 been the result of accident than conscious care and plantations on 

 abandoned fields have been only too often delayed until volunteer 

 growth of worthless material has made effective planting far more 

 expensive than necessary. The sooner the plantation is established 

 after the field has been abandoned for agricultural purposes the better 

 growth the plantation makes, the smaller the loss of stock from the 

 planting operation and the longer cleanings can be delayed in the young 

 stand. 



In the change of land from agricultural land use to forest it is 

 decidedly advantageous to plan the work some time before the transfer 

 is actually made. 



In the article under review emphasis is placed on the nature and 

 kinds of agricultural crops immediately preceding the transfer and the 

 possibility of an agricultural crop accompanying the first year's growth 

 of the stand of timber. The writer states that "forestry by precultures" 

 is the most remarkable innovation in modern forestry in England and 

 has been attended with such striking success it is being widely adopted. 

 It is most eiTective on poor land and is based on the improvement of 

 the soil through cultivation to such an extent that it becomes suited 

 to the varieties of trees which have been selected for planting. When 

 an area of poor land that has been idle for some time is taken in hand 

 and brought into acceptable condition through cultivation and the 

 use of fertilizers the improvement is followed by agricultural crops 

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