CHAPTER 19 



FORESTRY AND THE FARMER 



The tree of the field is man's life. BIBLE. 



THE farmer is our greatest wood user. He is also one of our 

 great wood owners and today about one-third of the forested 

 land of the United States is on the farm. In the eastern United 

 States alone, the area of woodlands on farms aggregates nearly 

 seven times the forested land of all France. So from their very 

 magnitude it follows that what happens to these farm woods 

 has an important bearing on our future timber supplies. No 

 discussion of our forest problem, or of our forest possessions 

 can be in any sense complete without considering the impor- 

 tant role of the farmer and his woodlands. 



These are days when a great deal is being said about making 

 our farmlands more productive. Farm science and farm prac- 

 tice have steadily directed their efforts toward making the soil 

 produce agricultural crops most abundantly. And to do that is 

 a vitally important thing for the soil is the cradle of all life. 

 But it is also well to remember that one of the most important 

 agricultural crops is firewood. Whatever will increase the value 

 and productivity of the farmers* woods means greater pros- 

 perity to the farmer. 



Foresters have long realized that the farm woodland is a 

 great neglected asset which actually the farmer can not afford 



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