WOODLAND VERSUS WOODLOT IN FARM FORESTRY 



By Wilbur R. Mattoon 

 Forestry Extension Specialist^ 



Some one once remarked, in discussing a proposed change in a cer- 

 tain custom, " 'Taint my business to kick the animal." vSometimes, 

 however, it is better to raise a question — to kick, if you please — rather 

 than to continue the use of a clumsy word or impractical method. The 

 author desires to question the use of the word "woodlot," as commonly 

 employed by State and Federal forestry workers to cover all kinds of 

 farm woodland, besides various phases of farm forestry. It often 

 inadequately describes the character of the timber distribution. The 

 wooded lands on farms over a large portion of the United States east 

 of the Mississippi River lie mostly in irregluarly shaped tracts cover- 

 ing the hills and ridges and reaching out over stony, steep, wet, and poor 

 lands. These find adequate description in .the terms "woodland" or 

 "farm woodlands." 



A parallel of "woodlot" and "woodland" is found in "pasture lot" 

 and "pasture land," the one being specific and the other generic. Our 

 farms for the most part comprise the three classes of (i) tillable or 

 "agricultural" land, (2) pasture land, and (3) woodland. Doubtless 

 not a few readers will recall having had the experience of feeling the 

 inadequacy of the specific word "woodlot" when dealing broadly with 

 the woodland on farms. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 481. "The 

 Status and Value of Farm Woodlots in the Eastern United States," ^ 

 does not consider individual woodlots, but does deal broadly with the 

 farm woodland of the region. The use of the word "woodland" in the 

 bulletin would have greatly helped the publication in reaching the people 

 outside the small circle of teachers and other professional workers. A 

 broader and better title for Farmers' Bulletin 715- would have been 

 "Measuring and Marketing Farm Timber." 



Many months of field work in farm forestry in 16 States, from Lake 

 Erie to the Gulf of Mexico, have convinced the author that over much 

 of the Eastern United States the word "woodlot" is not only a poor 



^ Forest Service in co-operation with States Relations Service, Washington, 

 D. C. 



^ By E. H. Frothingham. 



^ "Measuring and Marketing Woodlot Products," by W. R. Mattoon and W. B. 

 Barrows. 



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