39 



nually. Some day we shall manage our forests with this in view. A few 

 organizations, like the larger pulp companies, are endeavoring now to get 

 on a sustained yield basis. But in many cases this is scarcely possible on 

 account of the pressure for quick returns and the method of financing for- 

 est lands. The Federal Government and states should co-operate as far as 

 possible in encouraging and aiding private owners to cut their forests con- 

 servatively. The way which appears now to be the most feasible is through 

 some form of loan that will enable timber land owners to secure money 

 from the Government or states on easier terms than is possible elsewhere, 

 and a change in the method of taxing forest land. It has been suggested 

 that the provisions of the Farm Loan Act be extended to include the 

 financing of forest properties and that Federal Forest Loan banks be estab- 

 lished. By whatever financial and taxation plans the conservative handling 

 of our forests is made possible, the Government and states might co-operate 

 further, and follow the custom in some foreign countries, by detailing for- 

 esters to the owners of the large, so-called commercial timber tracts to 

 assist in the execution of the work. 



The conservative handling of forests connected with the farms can be 

 very largely encouraged through the agricultural extension work conducted 

 under the Smith-Lever law. The appropriation under this law for the 

 current year is over four million five hundred thousand dollars which, for 

 the most part, the states must duplicate. The money is allotted to the 

 states on the basis of rural population and is expended through the States 

 Relations Service in co-operation with the Director of Extension in the 

 various states. The work is chiefly demonstrational and is conducted by 

 county agents right on the ground. One can readily see the possibilities 

 in this for extension in farm forestry. It offers practically a virgin field. 

 No phase of forestry is of greater importance to the states of Indiana, 

 Ohio, and Illinois, than the proper handling of farm woodlands on the 

 basis of continuous production. The area of farm woodlands in these 

 states is about ten million acres, which is something like ninety per cent, 

 of their aggregate forest area, and farm woodlands occupy between ten 

 and fifteen per cent of the area in farms. 



As in agriculture so in forestry the most effective way to encourage 

 farmers to adopt scientific practice is through field demonstrations on their 

 own property or in their own locality. Of course, any increase in the 

 value of products is an additional incentive. Farmers have given little 

 or no attention to the proper handling of their woodland and they have 

 been strikingly ignorant of the value of wood products. As a rule, they 

 are chiefly interested in getting immediate returns from the woodland 

 and care little about its future development. This fact should serve as 

 a method of approach in encouraging them to cut their timber conserva- 

 tively. In other words, they must be assisted in getting larger revenue if 

 they are to become more interested in improving the woodland and raising 

 more and better timber. To this end farmers need to be given practical 

 information about markets for the various kinds of timber, methods of 

 selling, the variation in the common log rules used, and where practicable 

 the grading of lumber. In some cases it may also be feasible for the farm- 

 ers to form co-operative marketing associations similar to other agricul- 



