CHAPTER IV: THE WOODLOT THAT PAYS 



One might think the farmer's woodlot unworthy of mention 

 in a grave conference over the forest problems which now con- 

 front the American people. Yet a recent census report gives 

 630,000,000 acres of land in farms in the United States. Of 

 this, 200,000,000 acres is wooded, almost one-third of the whole. 



From this vast acreage the farmers get cordwood to burn 

 and to sell. They haul logs to the sawmills and get cash or 

 lumber in return. Telegraph and telephone poles, posts, railroad 

 ties, nuts, Christmas trees all these are sold from the woodlot. 

 Beside fuel and fencing, the farmers get timbers for their barns, 

 sheds and corn cribs. Their wagon tongues, axe handles and 

 whiflfietrees are largely made from sticks of seasoned timber, 

 furnished by the woodlots. If strict account of sales were kept 

 and credit were given for things sold and used at home, the wood- 

 lot would often prove itself the most profitable part of the farm. 



The passing of the virgin forests is but a matter of a few 

 years. The work of the big lumber companies is about done. 

 Dearth of lumber is already felt in a marked rise of prices. The 

 supply of pine in North and East is practically exhausted. The 

 South is sacrificing its pine forests at a suicidal rate. White oak, 

 black walnut and other valuable hardwoods are alarmingly 

 scarce. The question of the lumber supply for the future has 

 reached a critical stage. 



The reservation of public lands began in 1891, when Congress 

 authorised the President to withdraw tracts of forest from sale 

 and occupation by settlers. Fifty million acres of Western 

 lands have thus been set apart. States, too, have reserved 

 lands, with the aim of saving forests on mountains where rivers 

 take their rise. They have undertaken to reforest denuded 

 areas. Pennsylvania furnishes a notable instance of this. 



It is not surprising that the Department of Agriculture, 

 fully realising the close relation between agriculture and forestry, 

 and the dependence of the farm upon its woodlot, has, through 

 the Bureau of Forestry, attacked the problem strongly on this 



481 



