CHAPTER XVI 



WHY THE FARMER SHOULD PRACTICE 

 FORESTRY 



The tree crop is a profitable crop for the aver- 

 age farmer to grow. Notwithstanding the com- 

 paratively sure and easy incomes which result 

 from the farm woodlands that are well managed, 

 farmers as a class neglect their timber. Not 

 infrequently they sell their timber on the stump 

 at low rates through ignorance of the real market 

 value of the wood. In other cases, they do not 

 care for their woodlands properly. They cut 

 without regard to future growth. They do not 

 pile the slashings and hence expose the timber 

 tracts to fire dangers. They convert young trees 

 into hewed crossties which would yield twice as 

 great a return if allowed to grow for four or five 

 years longer and then be cut as lumber. 



Just to show how a small tract of trees will 

 grow into money if allowed to mature, the case of 

 a three-acre side-hill pasture in New England is 

 interesting. Forty-four years ago the farmer 

 who owned this waste land dug up fourteen hun- 



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