THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL REGENERATION 1\ THE 

 RE-ENFORCEMENT OF HARDWOOD WOODL( )TS 



By Edmund Skcrkst 

 Chief. Department of Forestry. Ohio . U/riciiltiiral Experiment Station 



Woodlot practice will become a reality in agricultural communities 

 when the farmer eventually applies efficiency methods to his business 

 and when economic conditions make silvicultural operations financially 

 })ossible. Xeither stage has been reached in Ohio, but if present indi- 

 cations are of evidential value the time is not far otil". It will mean the 

 reduction of woodland area within the State, but this will only stinm- 

 late agricultural production and will be welcomed in the great plan of 

 economy. Ohio is essentially an agricultural State and one of relatively 

 small farms. The status of a considerable portion of the 3,500.000 

 acres of woodland stands in unique relation to that of most other States. 

 This area has a high ratio to land \alues. and the natural tendency 

 respecting it has been one of most intensive exploitation, of which 

 grazing has been the chief contribution. The grazing practice, in the 

 estimate of the owner, has been his chief revenue. In conformity with 

 the condition of many of these tracts, his conclusions are correctly 

 deduced, which, however, in no way excuses this practice. The owner 

 would save the mature trees and destroy the reproduction. 1 lis interest 

 in the forest is the material ready for conversion, which should supply 

 the needs of the farm plant. His habits of thought and jiractices inad- 

 \ertently are inimical to his best interests. Determining the statu> of 

 a woodlot is foreign to his conception. 



The grazed woodland constitutes 80 per cent of the total for the 

 agricultural sections, the latter being approximately j^ per cent of the 

 land area of the State. Greater or less injury has occurred in consc- 

 ([uence and the resultant loss to these communities and the State at 

 large has been significant. I'nlike the fire menace, this practice cannot 

 be controlled by legislation and its very insidiousness makes it difficult 

 to combat. It is at best possible to control onl\- through education, 

 'i'he testimony of land-owners is to the efi'ect that the annual \;ilue of 

 the average woodland |);isture does not exceed 50 cents per acre, ancl 

 that derived mostly from browsing. 



Although the basis of operations, nu-re protection akMu- will not ac- 



