FARM FORESTRY 121 



cent of the land of the state, which is not very productive, is of enough 

 importance to be worthy of serious consideration. A tax exemption 

 law of some kind for non-revenue producing forest lands and a system 

 of insurance against fire are two very important factors to be con- 

 sidered. The government subsidizes men to raise sugar and cotton. 

 It protects the infant industries, but it penalizes the farmer with a 

 high tax when he wants to raise trees. It does seem to me that a 

 movement should be started to exempt the land devoted to forestry 

 from taxation until the trees come to an age when it will be profitable 

 to log them. It might well be a real job for the State Forester to 

 pass upon the condition of land that would exempt it from taxation. 

 We must do something to encourage the planting of trees; it takes 

 years before a tree arrives at a stage where any profit can be got from 

 it, and in that time encouragement should be given to the possessor 

 and caretaker of the trees. 



I have lived my life near the Mississippi River, and I can re- 

 member a time when there was not an hour of the day but what 

 great rafts of pine logs went down the river. This has all stopped. 

 I saw the last raft go down the river. There were days when good 

 white pine lumber sold for two dollars a thousand feet. There is 

 a lumber yard near my home which was once prosperous. The man 

 in charge used to be the yard boss, but now there are only two men 

 there, the boss and another man. 



Is it not high time that we did something on our own good land 

 to supply the demand for lumber ? We have heard considerable talk 

 here that we must reduce the crop of corn. To me it seems that 

 we must raise corn where corn can be raised. If it costs three times 

 as much to raise corn in one place than in another, is it not good 

 policy to use the land that cannot raise corn profitably for some other 

 purpose? Fifty per cent of the corn acreage in Illinois is raised on 

 land that never has paid and never will pay for raising corn. If we 

 can devote that land to some other purpose, we will be better off. 

 True conservation consists of putting land to that use for which it 

 is best fitted and can be most profitably used. 



