28 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 



hickory, once abundant, are now seriously lim- 

 ited. Formerly, these mixed forests covered 

 vast stretches of country which today support 

 only a scant crop of young trees which will not 

 be ready for market for many years. These 

 second-growth stands will never approach in 

 value or quality the original forests. Over large 

 areas, poplar, white birch, and Jack pine trees 

 now predominate on lands which formerly bore 

 dense stands of white pine. In many places, 

 scrubby underbrush and stunted trees occupy 

 lands which heretofore have been heavy pro- 

 ducers of marketable timber trees. 



Generally speaking, farm lands should not be 

 used for forestry purposes. On the other hand, 

 some forest lands can be profitably cleared and 

 used for agriculture. For example, settlers are 

 felling trees and fighting stumps in northern 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Some of 

 these virgin lands are valuable for farming pur- 

 poses, others are not. It is preferable that they 

 should produce farm crops instead of tree crops 

 if the land is best adapted to agricultural use. 

 It is an economic necessity that all lands in this 

 country best suited for farming purposes should 

 be tilled. Our ever-increasing population de- 



