WOOD-LOTS ON FARMS ab7é 
Southern California has been completely changed 
in appearance by the planting of exotics, especially 
species of the genus Hucalyptus. This has been all 
due to the efforts of individual farmers. When the 
swampy lands of Gascony were reclaimed by tree 
culture, a new province was practically added to 
France. 
Many claim that individuals can not be expected 
to plant trees for timber, because life is too short, 
and the investment, which is increasing at a rapid 
pace by compound interest, is too long unavailable 
and too slow in producing returns. In the North, 
where growth is slow, this is, perhaps, so, but in the 
South merchantable timber can be produced in much 
less time. Short rotations, and by rotation is meant 
the length of time from planting to reaping the crop, 
bring forestry within the means of the farmer. It 
is true that the State should own those forest areas 
which are needed for protective purposes, but it is 
Government cooperation, as in road construction, that 
is needed, as much as State ownership or State con- 
trol. Let us hope for the time when our people will 
be educated to a point where they will care for their 
own forests as well as, if not better than, the State 
ean ever do it, and with such willingness that coercion 
would be both unnecessary and pernicious. The 
more civilized people become the more they work 
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