A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 167 



reforestation. As this includes no estimate for land abandoned prior 

 to 1910, it would seem to be a conservative figure. 



This area available for reforestation will be increased by the land 

 that will be abandoned during the next two decades. It has been 

 stated previously that abandonment is not likely to be so great as 

 during the decade 1920 to 1930, but is likely to be greater than during 

 the decade 1910 to 1920. If land should be abandoned at the average 

 rate of the two decades there would be approximately 15,000,000 

 acres more by 1940 and nearly 30,000,000 acres by 1950. Some of 

 this abandonment will come from the idle crop land and the pasture 

 land listed above. However, some of the land now being utilized 

 intensively may be in one of the two stages of abandonment. It 

 seems reasonable then to expect approximately 75,000,000 or 80,- 

 000,000 acres of agricultural land to be available or likely to be 

 available by 1950 for some degree of reforestation. 



It should be noted that this is probably a maximum estimate. 

 Improvements in the economic position of agriculture may reduce 

 the total. Moreover, much of the area statistically available might 

 prove to be not economically available. Inertia of farm owners may 

 retard the reforestation of some of the idle land in farms in cases in 

 which the entire farm is not abandoned. In some areas the aban- 

 doned farms may be too widely scattered to permit the consolidation 

 of workable forest units, while in still other areas the idle farm land 

 may not prove well adapted to reforestation at reasonable costs 

 either to private or to public agencies. 



SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF FARM 

 ABANDONMENT 



A number of important and rather distinctive social and economic 

 problems are encountered in areas of extensive abandonment and in 

 areas containing substantial amounts of land unsuited to farm use. 

 Some of the more important social ills of these areas are: (1) Low 

 incomes and consequent low plane of living, (2) fiscal difficulties of 

 local government units, (3) low plane of community life, and (4) 

 waste of individual and social effort and exploitation of those ignorant 

 of the lack of opportunity existing in such areas. These difficulties 

 are all interrelated and each in turn has an effect upon the others. 



The living generally possible in such areas is usually on a lower 

 plane than in better areas. It is the hope of securing a better living 

 elsewhere that has led to much abandonment. A number of studies 

 in such areas have shown that the incomes of the farm families are 

 notably less than the incomes of farm families in better agricultural 

 areas. In one study, the goods purchased for consumption averaged 

 $324 per family compared with an average of $914 in more favorable 

 areas. 8 



Another study of several areas of extensive abandonment showed 

 an average income of only $339 for the labor of the farmer after allow- 

 ing for farm expenses and only $98 after deducting 5 percent for 

 interest on investment. 9 The gross income per farm of a county in 



s Oyler, M.-Cost of Living and Population Trends in Laurel County, Ky., 1930. Ky. Agr. Expt. Sta. 

 Bui. 301, p. 73. 



Kirkpatrick, E. L. and Hawthorne, H. W. Sources and Uses of Income Among 300 Farm Families of 

 Vinton, Jackson, and Meigs Counties, Ohio, 1926. U.S.D.A. Bur. Agr. Econ. Min. Kept., p. 9. 



Vaughn, L. M. Abandoned Farm Areas in New York, 1928. Cornell Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 490, p. 255. 



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