Forest Lands and Forest Settlements 



BY M. M. BUCKMAN 



It seems as though the main issue in forest matters 

 is being clouded with a lot of side issues which are 

 of no practical importance. Let us get back to funda- 

 mentals and then go ahead. Basically every endeavor 

 in any line is made to better living conditions and 

 Forestry is no exception to this rule. Any timber or 

 timbered land which is to be protected must have the 

 possibilities of being a help to our people and our 

 state. It is not advantageous to set aside for timber 

 production any lands which are better suited for farm- 

 in u: such lands should be opened into farms and pro- 

 duce their share of our food stuffs. However we have 

 a class of lands which can not be profitably farmed. 

 Most of the foreign countries and a number of our 

 states, notably New York, have found this out to their 

 loss. On tracts of this kind it is a w^aste of time and 

 money to try and make a living by farming but they 

 an and will produce a valuable crop of timber. Let 

 us set aside lands of this kind and where necessary 

 plant them back to trees and after they have been 

 planted or have planted themselves let us protect 

 them. What would you think of a farmer who plant- 

 ed a crop and then trusted to luck that he would 

 have a good harvest? Trees are a crop and like any 

 other crop must have proper attention if they are to 

 produce a proper return for 'the time and money in- 

 vested. 



One of the things which is hard to handle and diffi- 

 cult of solution are those lands which are clearly agri- 



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