varieties, no cultivation or weeding, no protection 

 against fires, grazing animals, or destructive insects 

 and fungous disease. 



But this is the way most farm woodlands have been 

 treated. The total value of woodland products, $195.- 

 000,000 seems large, to be sure, but when it is remem- 

 bered that this comes from more than 190,000,000 

 acres of land, the average production per acre is very 

 small. Pasture is, of course, not being taken into 

 consideration here. It is safe to say that, with very 

 little additional outlay, the woodlands now on farms 

 could produce an annual net income from timber prod- 

 ucts alone several times greater than the present 

 amount. 



Farm production of timber should be much greater 

 than it now is, not only because of the benefit to the 

 farmers, who by better use of their woodgrowing land 

 might increase their income, but also because of the 

 benefit to the public generally; which, with good 

 reason, is becoming deeply concerned over the ques- 

 tion of waning timber supplies. The Department of 

 Agriculture has an obligation to the country in the 

 whole matter of forestry. Our public forests can not 

 begin to supply our needs. Private forest lands, other 

 than the farm woodlands, are being cut over destruc- 

 tively. Those owned by farmers are as a rule neglect- 

 ed. "We can no more do without wood than we could 

 do without iron or coal. It is a necessity of our na- 

 tional life; and it must be grown. The Department 

 of Agriculture would be neglecting an important field 

 of duty were it not to concern itself with the replace- 

 ment of timber growth on lands naturally best 



6 



