133 



In the second place, it is not necessary to wait 30 to 80 years for 

 yields from a wood-lot. The intensive use to which a farmer can put 

 the small material enables him by thinnings to obtain fuel, stakes, fence 

 posts, and other small-sized material in not over 15 years; even within 

 8 to 10 years when plantations are made on bare soil, and these returns 

 carry the investment until the more valuable material is ready for cutting, 

 and pay the taxes. 



The question of taxes is one which requires legislation or change 

 in practice. But in small wood-lots taxes are not the factor which will 

 either encourage or prevent the practice of forestry to any great extent, 

 for the reason that ordinarily the taxes on this land would be about the 

 same whether or not forest crops were grown, and the crop offers a 

 means to pay these taxes, while non-productive land does not. As be- 

 tween pasturing and forest crops, the question is one of relative net an- 

 nual income to the farm as a whole as well as to the land so used. This 

 will be discussed later. Forest land is usually classed as unimproved 

 and as such bears a lesser valuation than improved land. Such a prac- 

 tice, of valuing forest lands lower than lands producing agricultural crops 

 or orchards, is sound in theory and practice, since, as shown, forests are 

 crops which can and should normally be grown on poorer soils unsuited 

 to higher uses of food production, hence worth considerably less per acre 

 than a good quality of agricultural land. When small quantities of high- 

 grade agricultural lands are devoted to the production of special forest 

 crops, such as hedge or catalpa posts, the values of the crops are or 

 should be sufficiently high to bear the usual taxes on lands of this value. 



One principle can be clearly laid down which will remove any in- 

 justice in taxation of forest property. Growing timber itself should 

 not be taxed, but only the land upon which it grows. It is as sensible 

 to tax growing crops of grain as to tax repeatedly the same crop of 

 timber during its growth. 



To determine whether the woodland property belonging to the farm- 

 ers of the state is now producing crops which measure up to the possible 

 yields of such lands, the returns from 440 wood-lots were tabulated. 

 The table on page 131 gives the results obtained. In column 3 is indi- 

 cated the area out of the total of 19,986 acres which yielded products 

 of the designated kind within a period of 5 years for lumber, and 3 years 

 for other products. Fuel is cut annually on most wood-lots, and a very 

 high proportion amounting to 8G per cent still continue to yield fence 

 posts for the annual upkeep of the farm. A significant figure is the 



