20 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OP THE 



and the stream bottoms where annual floods prevent 

 profitable agriculture. The excellent soil of the prairies 

 proper makes the farms among the most prosperous in 

 the State, and these stands are held principally as farm 

 woodlots. There will always be a demand for a large 

 amount of post and pole timber and fuel for farm use, 

 and it is fortunate that these nearby areas, which cannot 

 profitably be cultivated, can be used to supply the demand. 

 As timber in other regions becomes scarce, and as prices 

 advance, the advantages of devoting these hills and bot- 

 toms to the growth of timber will be more appreciated, 

 and better care will be taken of the woodlots as a necessary 

 part of the farms. 



The improvement of these stands requires first of all 

 protection from fire. So long as fires are allowed to bum 

 the humus and leaf litter, there can be no increase in the 

 fertility of the hill regions. The fires also kill the seedlings 

 and saplings which are the basis of future timber crops, 

 and frequently do some damage to trees of or approaching 

 merchantable size. Fires also make the surface of the 

 ground more susceptible to washing, while the maintenance 

 of a good forest cover exerts exactly the opposite influence. 

 If fires are kept out of the hill forests there will be far less 

 danger of the poor soil washing from these hills to cover 

 the good agricultural land in the prairies. At present 

 forest fires are frequent in the region during drought 

 periods, and the damage from them is severe. This dam- 

 age is preventable, and it would be for the benefit of the 

 community and of the State to prevent it. 



With the danger from fire reduced, it would pay the 

 owners of woodlots, both in the hills and in the bottoms, 

 to improve the quality of their stands. In cutting wood 

 for use on the farm, it is frequently possible to take trees 

 of slow-growing or inferior species, or trees which are 

 partially diseased or crooked. The removal of these would 

 benefit the young, healthy trees of good species and would 

 enable the owner to cut better material or his own use 

 in the future and to obta'n higher prices in case he sells 

 timber. 



