FARMERS SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 137 



amounted to 254 cords equivalent to 170,000 

 board feet of lumber. This was an average of 

 about 85,000 feet an acre. The trees were 

 between eighty and eighty-five years old when 

 felled. This indicates an annual growth on each 

 acre of about 1,000 feet of lumber. The gross re- 

 turns from the sale of the woodland crops 

 amounted to $12.20 an acre a year. These, of 

 course, are not average instances. 



Farmers should prize their woodlands because 

 they provide building material for fences and 

 farm outbuildings as well as for general repairs. 

 The farm woodland also supplies fuel for the 

 farm house. Any surplus materials can be sold 

 in the form of standing timber, sawlogs, posts, 

 poles, crossties, pulpwood, blocks or bolts. The 

 farm forest also serves as a good windbreak for 

 the farm buildings. It supplies shelter for the 

 livestock during stormy weather and protects the 

 soil against erosion. During slack times, it pro- 

 vides profitable work for the farm hands. 



There are approximately one-fifth of a billion 

 acres of farm woodlands in the United States. 

 In the eastern United States there are about 

 169,000,000 acres of farmland forests. If these 

 woodlands could be joined together in a solid 



