5^2 



Illustrated Canadian Forestry Magazine, December, 1920 



Why Farm Forestry Pays 



The right handHng of forest trees on 

 the farm will make it more prosperous, 

 add to its comforts as a home, and en- 

 hance its value as an investment. 



The home forest, in many sections of 

 the country, will supply the timber which 

 the farm needs for buildings, fences, 

 fuel, repairs of all kinds, and many other 

 uses; and there will often be a surplus 

 which can be sold in the form of stand- 

 ing timber, saw logs, posts, poles, cross- 

 ties, pulpwood, fuelwood, and blocks or 

 billets for making spokes, handles, spools, 

 boxes, barrels, and excelsior. 



A well-cared-for home forest serves 

 also as a windbreak for buildings, a 

 shelter for live stock, a protection of 

 valuable lands from erosion, a means of 

 •profitable employment for men and teams 

 during otherwise spare or idle time, a 

 place of recreation, and an improvement 

 in the appearance of the farm. 



Trees improve and build up the soil. 

 The leaves, small twigs, and other tree 

 litter decompose and form a layer of 

 dark-colored vegetable mold, which en- 

 riches the soil and stores up soil mois- 

 ture. By means of this layer of mold, 

 the binding of the soil by the roots of 

 the trees, and the resistance of the trunks 

 to the rapid flow of water, the woods pre- 

 vent floods from gullying or destroying 

 the land by erosion, particularly on steep 

 slopes. 



Even if a farmer sells no timber the 

 woodland pays. The firewood, fence 

 posts, and material for repair and con- 

 struction on the farm, the timber and 

 money saved by having them convenient- 

 ly on hand, and the protection against 

 extremes of weather afforded the crops, 

 farm buildings, and stock are worth con- 

 siderably more than the slight trouble 

 and expense of raising and caring for the 

 trees. 



The woods need not occupy good farm 

 land that will grow other crops. Trees 

 should, as a rule, be located on land too 

 poor to cultivate, such as gullied or very 

 rocky land, swamps, steep slopes, and 

 barren soils. Unused corners and small 



uncultivated spots about the farm are 

 good places for rapid-growing, useful 

 trees. The chief economic reason for 

 timber growing on the farm is to get a 

 profit from those portions which would 

 otherwise be unproductive. 



Though the land on which the farm 

 forest is situated may not be suitable for 

 other crops, it should not be treated as 

 waste land. (Fig. 1.) By a little care 

 it can be made to produce valuable tim- 

 ber. Only a little attention is required, 

 and this may be given in the winter or 

 when other farm work is slack. Forest 

 trees and woodland are more valuable 

 now than they were a few years ago. 

 Many trees that used to have little value, 

 and even small trees that used to be 

 counted as brush to be got rid of, are 

 now in good demand. 



— U. S. Forest Service. 



NO IDLE LAND ON THE FARM. 



Woodland on the hills, pasture land on the slopes, 



and cultivated land below. 



