The Vi^oodlot Problem 213 



With the substitution of the word "American" for "Austrian," 

 this is a fair statement of what could and should be done in this 

 country. At the beginning of the campaign, two points to be 

 accented are, first, the coordination of three lines of endeavor — 

 improving the product, keeping the standard up, and getting a 

 direct market — and, second, the stimulation of community action, 

 since it is hopeless to expect to reach the individual farmer — 

 he is "too many for us." But most of the farmers already asso- 

 ciated can be reached, as through the Grange or other agricultural 

 organizations. 



Now, to take up the question of team-work. At the head of 

 every team there must be a man. Human flesh and blood is the 

 stuff we deal with in solving any big problem. The forest prob- 

 lems are, to my thinking, comparatively simple. The knowable, 

 teachable facts about woodlots for the average woodlot owner 

 can be put on one sheet of paper. After he gets those he'll have 

 to learn the rest by doing the rest. Dr. Spillman will admit that 

 the fundamentals of farm management can be put into ten short 

 commandments and that any farmer who follows these will 

 achieve success in the far more complicated field of general 

 agriculture. It was Dr. Seaman Knapp who sowed sound ideas 

 on framing and raised not only crops but men. The crops of 

 farm demonstrators and the institution which they form is his 

 great monument. What needs to be done for the woodlot is to 

 enthuse this same or a similar organization with ideals as to 

 farm forestry. It may be a hard task. The man in charge of 

 farm demonstration work in Virginia told me within a year that 

 he had no patience with the subject and that his whole desire 

 was to get trees out of the way; yet the South Atlantic States 

 produced 22^ per cent of the total farm forest product in 1909. 



I have an ideal of the right man to put woodlot forestry where 

 it belongs. Possibly the same definitions fit a good farm demon- 

 strator. In the first place, he should know and appreciate trees, 

 which is quite as important as having a forestry education. He 

 should know something about farming and should have a sym- 

 pathy with the farmer's work, and his knowledge should extend 

 to both production and distribution. He doesn't want to be an 

 expert or an advisor, but a helper and a cooperator, and the 



