FORESTRY AND CONSERVATION 323 



but is carried off superficially, especially when the soil is of clay and 

 naturally compact. As a result the waters, rushing over the surface 

 down the hill, run together in rivulets and streams, and acquire 

 such a force as to be able to move loose particles, and even stones; 

 the ground becomes furrowed with gullies and runs; the fertile soil 

 is washed away ; the fields below are covered with silt ; the roads are 

 damaged; the water courses tear their banks, and later run dry be- 

 cause the waters that should feed them by subterranean channels 

 have been carried away in the flood. 



The forest cover on the hilltops and steep hillsides which are not 

 fit for cultivation prevents this erosive action of the waters by the 

 same influence by which it increases available water supplies. The 

 important effects of a forest cover then, are retention of larger quan- 

 tities of water and carrying them off under ground and giving them 

 up gradually, thus extending the time of their usefulness and 

 preventing their destructive action. 



In order to be thoroughly effective, the forest growth must be 

 dense, and, especially, the forest floor must not be robbed of its ac- 

 cumulations of foliage, surface mulch and litter, or its underbrush 

 by fire, nor must it be compacted by the trampling of cattle. On 

 the gentler slopes, which are devoted to cultivation, methods of un- 

 derdraining, such as horizontal ditches partly filled with stones and 

 covered with soil, terracing, and contour plowing, deep cultivation, 

 sodding, and proper rotation of crops, must be employed to prevent 

 damage from surface waters. 



The Forest Supplies the Farm with Useful Material. All the 

 benefits derived from the favorable influence of forest belts upon 

 water conditions can be had without losing any of the useful ma- 

 terial that the forest produces. The forest grows to be cut and to 

 be utilized ; it is a crop to be harvested. It is a crop which, if prop- 

 erly managed, does not need to be replanted; it reproduces itself. 

 When once established, the ax, if properly guided by skillful hands, 

 is the only tool necessary to cultivate it and to reproduce it. There 

 is no necessity of planting unless the wood lot has been mismanaged. 



The wood lot, then, if properly managed, is not onty the 

 guardian of the farm, but it is the savings bank from which fair in- 

 terest can be annually drawn, utilizing for the purpose the poorest 

 part of the farm. Nor does the wood lot require much attention ; it 

 is to the farm what the workbasket is to the good housewife a 

 means with which to improve the odds and ends of time, especially 

 during the winter, when other farm business is at a standstill. It 

 may be added that the material which the farmer can secure from 

 the wood lot, besides the other advantages recited above, is of far 

 greater importance and value than is generally admitted. 



On a well-regulated farm of 160 acres, with its 4 miles and 

 more of fencing, and with its wood fires in range and stove, at least 

 25 cords of wood are required annually, besides material for repair 

 of buildings, or altogether the annual product of probably 40 to 50 

 acres of well-stocked forest is needed. The product may represent, 

 according to location, an actual stumpage value of from $1 to $3 



