222 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



terial needed in the repair work that is always necessary on 

 a farm, his woodlands will more than repay him for the time 

 and effort he spends there. After all, he already owns the land. 

 Usually it is land too poor to grow farm crops, but decidedly 

 too good to give away. If it can be made to produce six or 

 eight dollars an acre yearly, to the farmer's bank account, it 

 becomes in a very real sense a valuable money crop. 



Another important advantage the farmer possesses over the 

 average landowner is that he can apply his efforts at forestry 

 during the slack season. Winter is the best time to work in 

 the woods, to cut and to thin, and it is this time of year that 

 the farmer can best spare from the care of his agricultural 

 crops. Wood is the one commodity that the farmer can raise 

 as a spare time crop and many a farm that would not support 

 a family by its agricultural harvests alone can be made to pay, 

 because of its winter crop of posts, firewood and lumber. 



Better roads are increasing the value of the farm woods and 

 allowing the farmer to market materials that ten years ago 

 were worthless. Here, too, the farmer as a forester enjoys an 

 advantage not possessed by either state, government, or large 

 timber owner. For the farmer's forest land is near the great 

 centers of population, and with the costly problem of long 

 distance transportation he has nothing to do. Neither is he 

 forced, like the lumberman, to cut regardless of the conditions 

 of the market. He may keep his woods intact until they will 

 bring in a fair return, secure in the knowledge that, like money 

 at interest, his trees are day by day putting on added value. 



But, in order to sell intelligently, the farmer must keep in 

 touch with the trends of the market. Here the State Forester 

 will often give him aid and advice. Many of the states are 



