A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 137 



The fact that a large proportion of the farm woodlands occur as 

 relatively small separate tracts tends to facilitate fire protection and 

 to render them less exposed to epidemic insect and disease attacks. 



Farm forest-land owners characteristically do not own or operate 

 the sawmill or other manufacturing plants using their raw forest 

 material. They are thus relieved of the additional worries and prob- 

 lems which go with such enterprises and they are relatively free to 

 handle their forest lands with primary reference to the welfare of these 

 lands or that of the farm enterprise. 



In a general way, farm woodlands constitute an important factor 

 in the economy of many farms. They are an integral part of the 

 farm with no special overhead costs. Not only do they furnish fuel, 

 fence posts, and other domestic products but they provide employ- 

 ment during off periods, and produce a cash crop which in many 

 instances has proven a lifesaver. Within the naval-stores belt, farm 

 woodlands no less than other forest lands with stands suitable for 

 turpentine cupping have the added advantage of a revenue from the 

 lease of timber for turpentining or from the sale of resin. 



In the nature of the case a partial or selective method of cutting is 

 adapted to farm woodland conditions. Probably without much 

 conscious effort on the part of the owners, partly because of rough 

 selection methods of cutting, and with less fire loss, farm wood- 

 lands except where they are heavily grazed are believed to be on 

 the average in better growing condition than other privately owned 

 lands. This class of land is capable of further development in syste- 

 matic timber cropping through measures that are both simple and 

 practicable. 



Figure 8 reveals that the situation as to relative areas of age 

 classes for farm woodlands also varies markedly by regions. In 

 the South, the most important region of all, farm woodlands appear 

 to have a higher proportion of poor to nonrestocking land than 

 in any other important farm-woodland region. The Lake region, 

 as under other ownership, has a rather high proportion of this land 

 and a very high proportion of restocking area. The farm-woodland 

 situation appears relatively favorable in the New England, Middle 

 Atlantic, and Central regions. 



Notwithstanding that there is much room for improvement in 

 the condition of farm woodlands, particularly in some regions, it is 

 believed that farm woodlands in general lend themselves readily to 

 good forestry practice as an integral revenue-producing feature of 

 the farm economy. Consequently, except as farms fall in the sub- 

 marginal category, and are abandoned or revert to public owner- 

 ship, the farm-woodland aspect of the Nation's forest situation does 

 not constitute a particularly critical problem. 



PUBLIC OWNERSHIP 



Of the 99 million acres in public ownership, or about one fifth of 

 our total commercial forest land, the bulk 88 million acres is 

 owned or managed by the Federal Government, 9K million by the 

 States, and more than a million by counties and municipalities. 

 (Table 3 and fig. 10). 



The West and East afford a pronounced contrast in the proportion 

 of commercial forest land in public ownership, as shown in figure 9. 



