134 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



Of the land which is now going to waste because of its rocky 

 condition, much of it is so exceedingly rocky as to make it for- 

 ever useless as plowland or even for pasture. It would cost so 

 much to clear it of stones that one could never hope to secure 

 sufficient returns to repay the cost. Such land, however, need 

 not go to waste. It is our natural forest land. With the growth 

 of population the demand for timber continues to increase, and 

 with the clearing of the virgin forests the supply continues to 

 diminish. The time is not far distant when the products of the 

 forest will be in such demand as to make even the rockiest of 

 New England hills valuable, provided they have been allowed to 

 grow up to trees. 



This does not mean that these rocky hills are better for trees 

 than the more level and tillable lands of the valleys and plains. 

 But these other lands can be used for the growing of field and 

 garden crops, whereas the rocky hills cannot. It is a wise 

 economy, therefore, to devote these hills to the one purpose 

 for which they are suited, reserving the tillable lands for other 

 purposes. Besides the timber, these rocky and semimountainous 

 lands are of some value as deer parks and game preserves. The 

 supply of venison and other game which such lands will furnish, 

 while of small value in comparison with the products of rich 

 pastures devoted to the growing of domestic animals, is not a 

 matter to be despised, especially when we consider that it pro- 

 duces itself without cost in the way of labor or care. 



One difficulty in the way of the full utilization of land of 

 this description for purposes of forestry is the slowness with 

 which returns come in. It takes at least thirty years, more fre- 

 quently fifty years, for a tree to grow to a usable size. So long 

 a period of waiting is unattractive to the average individual, 

 partly because of the limited span of human life and partly 

 because of the shortness of human foresight. Another difficulty 

 lies in the fact that the work of reforesting the rocky lands, to 



