28 The Farm Woodlot 



addition will pay a higher net revenue per acre than the 

 rest of the farm has averaged in these early stages of de- 

 velopment. 



A very conservative estimate of the value of this eighty 

 acres of volunteer timber crop at the end of the forty 

 years would be $6400, and in some sections of the country it 

 would be three times as much. This is an unearned incre- 

 ment which is not to be despised, and yet it is being 

 absolutely ignored and thrown away on tens of thousands 

 of farms in the United States and Canada to-day. 



Nor should all of the timber ever be cut from the farm, 

 even where the height of its development has been at- 

 tained. In these regions of plentiful timber it is but 

 natural that the value of the woodlot should be under- 

 estimated or altogether ignored. But there could not be 

 a greater mistake. It is an economic impossibility to 

 cultivate all the land in any section. Part of it must be 

 in timber. Many illustrations of the truth of this can be 

 seen in the older settled districts. Take, for example, the 

 most highly developed portions of the country, places 

 where farm land has reached a ridiculously high figure and 

 waste space is done away with. These sections in the 

 timber belt show from 10 to 25 per cent still in forest ; in 

 the prairies the established woodlot is the farmer's most 

 cherished possession, and the acreage devoted to this pur- 

 pose is steadily increasing. It can never be otherwise. 



Why, then, should the pioneer struggle to clear all of 

 the timber from his farm when he or his descendants will 

 most certainly be obliged to replace some of it ? The correct 

 handling of the woodlands of an uncleared claim is the most 

 important factor in the management and development of 

 such farms and should receive the attention it deserves. 



