794 JOURXAL OF FORESTRY 



But to no class of citizens is this waste so important and serious as 

 to the farmers, particularh^ those men who are farming the agricultural 

 land in the north half of the State in the region where most of the 

 idle forest land is situated. In the clearing of our large agricultural 

 areas the farmer has learned to think of trees as his enemies. In the 

 case of forest land, however, just the reverse is true for the forests 

 adjacent to his farm can be made one of his greatest sources of profit. 

 Forests provide employment for local residents and for their teams 

 during the winter months when farm work has largely stopped and 

 teams are idle. This employment brings in a very welcome cash 

 income to the struggling farmer who is trying to buy powder to clear 

 his land and equipment to develop it. With year round employment 

 possible more men will remain on the farms, thus providing more help 

 during the busy summer season. With local logging and. lumbering 

 operations a comparatively cheap supply of common lumber is avail- 

 able for farm buildings and other improvements. The logging camps 

 and business communities engaged in lumbering offer excellent local 

 markets for farm produce and bring more people into the district 

 which improves community life and increases property values. This 

 leads to the more rapid development of all true agricultural land 

 within the district. In short, farm crops and forest crops supplement 

 each other and it is only by making the forest land of a district pro- 

 ductive that the agricultural land can reach its highest productivity 

 and value. 



Without going into the many other familiar and unanswerable argu- 

 ments in favor of making our forest lands produce timber instead of 

 lying idle as at present, let us consider ways by which "the people of 

 the State may be shown the facts and may be organized to effectively 

 remedy the situation. 



A STATK FORESTRY ASSOCIATION NOT DESIRABLE 



The first suggestion made was that a conference of those interested 

 in forestry be called this coming fall to organize a Wisconsin Forestry- 

 Association. This association would then build up a large membership 

 throughout the State, employ a paid secretary, and work actively in 

 the interest of legislative and co-operative measures for the advance- 

 ment of forestry in the State. From the experience of other States 

 there appears, however, to be considerable doubt as to whether a 

 conventional forestry association such as exists in many of the States 



