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forest land. The writer has asked scores of land owners at what they esti- 

 mated the value of the growth of an acre of woodland, and not one has 

 had the knowledge or even the courage to venture an answer. He does 

 not know the potential value of a forest, but he does know that a forest 

 crop is a long time investment, and that his economic conditions demand an 

 investment of short duration. The hilly or forestal land of Indiana is 

 surrounded by abundant coal fields, and the slash of a forest crop has 

 little or no commercial value. In most instances after all of the mer- 

 chantable timber has been removed, the slash would not pay for clearing 

 of the land. Coal can be bought for what it costs to cut wood and many 

 farmers who have wood rotting in their forest, take produce to market 

 and return with a load of coal. The time required to cut wood can be 

 spent at more remunerative employment or the bitter winter days of wood 

 cutting can be turned into a rabbit hunt. In the hilly counties there is no 

 outlet for surplus labor such as in the northern counties. In the north, 

 witness each morning the thousands of laborers, especially girls, on 

 the interurban cars going to the cities to work. As a consequence the 

 farmer of the hill country is compelled to use the surplus man-power on 

 his farm, which in the aggregate is eight per cent, smaller than the farm of 

 the north. To do this, he sets to clearing more land, and grows tobacco, 

 which requires about ten times more man-power to grow than corn. Or, 

 he will grow tomatoes, strawberries or other bush fruits or vegetables. As 

 an example of this form of intensive agriculture may be cited the growing 

 of strawberries on the "knobs" in the vicinity of Borden where as high 

 as five car loads have been shipped in one day. The greatest inroad on our 

 forest area has been made by the recent development of the dairy business. 

 The introduction and wide use of the silo ; our recent knowledge of certain 

 forage plants, such as alfalfa ; and our greater facilities for marketing 

 milk and cream, such as improved roads, auto trucks, etc., have been 

 extremely favorable to the development of the dairy business. The high 

 price of food products has advanced the price of butter fat to the point 

 where the hill farmer wiU tell you that the income from his cows is equal 

 to that of his farm. In order to get more grazing land, every available 

 nook and corner and forest land is taken, and the remaining forest land 

 is being fenced. It is now rare to see open forest land, or a fenced forest 

 that is not pastured. It is a well known fact that pasturage will stop 

 all reproduction in a hardwood forest, and if there is not a change in the 

 management of the forest area in the hill country, there will be no forests 

 after the maturity of the present crop. 



The fire hazard in Indiana is not a serious barrier to maintaining our 

 forest area. Forests are usually open, small and separated by numerous 

 public roads. In any event fire would not burn over any great area if 

 any organized effort was made to stop it. As a rule, owners do not care 

 if their forests are burned over, in fact many burn their forests over 

 each year to keep reproduction down, and to burn up the leaves so the 

 grass will get a start. When a fire is started in a forest there is little 

 effort made to stop it except when it threatens a fence, haystack or build- 

 ings. 



Our present tax system is an important factor in encouraging land 



