Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 



was the fact that adequate growing 

 stock of the more valuable species, 

 properly spaced to obtain maximum 

 growth, was left on the land with an 

 eye to future values. 



In South Carolina, the owner of a 

 farm woodland was tempted to sell the 

 entire tract for $2,500. With a for- 

 ester's help, he sold part of the timber 

 for $7,460 and has half of his trees, 

 the best ones for future growth, still 

 at work on the land growing more 

 wood for another harvest. 



These few examples illustrate how 

 a small but ever-increasing number of 

 farmers and other owners of small 

 woodlands are obtaining cash crops. 



Most owners of small forest tracts 

 do not usually think of these proper- 

 ties as having possibilities for a regular 

 income; to them, the trees in their 

 woodlands might have no particular 

 value except possibly for fuel wood 

 and fence posts. An offer of a few 

 hundred dollars for all the timber in 

 a small tract probably would strike 

 most such owners as an unexpected bit 

 of good fortune. Yet a small forest, even 

 one of only 50 or 60 acres, can be made 

 to yield its owner good financial re- 

 turns at regular intervals of 5 or 10 

 years, sometimes more frequently. 



The key to forest profits is, of course, 

 good forest management. Good man- 

 agement happily is within the reach of 

 most owners of small forest properties. 

 Many, however, will need technical 

 assistance in getting started in profit- 

 able woodland management because 

 few owners of small forests now earn 

 their living, or even a small part of it, 

 solely by growing timber. Timber pro- 

 duction, if engaged in at all, is defi- 

 nitely a side issue to farming, teaching 

 school, selling hardware, banking, or 

 some other full-time job. Timber grow- 

 ing to the great majority of small- 

 forest owners is a new business. 



The need for technical help is fur- 

 ther emphasized by the unfortunate 

 fact that far too many forest prop- 

 erties have been allowed to deterio- 

 rate. Sometimes the cream has been 

 skimmed from the forest crop so often 



that there are left only the less desirable 

 species, the defective trees and those 

 too small to yield a salable product. 

 Technical knowledge is required to 

 turn such deteriorated properties into 

 fast-growing forests well stocked with 

 high-value trees. Experience with other 

 crops is, of course, helpful in forest 

 management. But many aspects of 

 timber production and harvesting and 

 marketing are entirely different from 

 those of other crops. 



In the past 5 or 6 years substantial 

 although still far from adequate 

 progress has been made in providing 

 small-forest owners with technical as- 

 sistance in woodland management. 

 Public agencies furnish most of the as- 

 sistance now available. This publicly 

 sponsored forestry assistance is handled 

 by State agencies in cooperation with 

 the Department of Agriculture. It is 

 intended for small-forest owners who 

 plan to do their own forestry work and 

 includes two closely related but dis- 

 tinct types of assistance : Education in 

 the techniques of forest management 

 and marketing and in-the-woods tech- 

 nical advice and service to individual 

 forest owners. 



State forestry departments and ex- 

 tension services, the Federal Govern- 

 ment, and a number of private organi- 

 zations sponsor educational programs 

 that direct attention to the prominent 

 part small forests have in the Nation's 

 wood supply and to the profitableness 

 of timber as a cash crop. Valuable as 

 mass educational activity of this kind 

 may be, it cannot, of course, furnish 

 detailed and specific instruction in the 

 techniques of woodland management. 

 Such instruction, however, is included 

 in the cooperative Federal-State pro- 

 gram. This important aspect of edu- 

 cation is under the immediate super- 

 vision of 67 State extension foresters, 

 who work through the county agri- 

 cultural agents in 45 States. Instruction 

 in management of woodlands is thus 

 coordinated with existing public edu- 

 cational facilities and with other non- 

 resident teaching in agriculture. 



Extension foresters carry on their 



