The Woodlot that Pays 



Or it may be too rocky to plough, or too sandy, or have too 

 much clay. It will always grow trees. Stop trying to farm it. 

 Let Nature clothe it and make good soil of it. It will add to the 

 value of the place in the eyes of any prospective buyer, in addition 

 to the timber it produces. It will convert a blemish into a beauty 

 spot. 



13. Study local lumber markets. Is there a pulp mill or a 

 tannery in your neighbourhood? Then spruce and hemlock 

 are paying crops. Poplars and basswood bring good prices at 

 paper mills. Birches pay near a toy or spool factory. Hickory 

 and ash are in great demand in vehicle and implement factories. 

 Walnut, maple, oak and cherry bring good prices where furniture 

 is manufactured. Fuel commands good prices near large cities; 

 so do Christmas trees. In a newly developing country, telegraph 

 poles, fence posts and railroad ties are in brisk demand. Pine 

 and many other staple lumber trees are a safe crop at any time. 



It is almost as easy to grow good trees as poor ones, to cut 

 out the right ones as the wrong ones, to cut down a tree properly 

 as to do it improperly. A bit more time and thought, only, and 

 the result is a vast improvement. Leave a sprout forest to itself 

 and you get defective, crooked trees unfit for any use but fuel. 

 Take out some of the sprouts and the rest grow at greatly acceler- 

 ated speed into straight trees bringing much higher prices. An 

 increased yield of 20 per cent, to 40 per cent, is recorded in ex- 

 periments made by farmers working at odd days with no outside 

 help. The farmer's great advantage is that during the winter 

 he has leisure to improve his woodland, and with boys to help him, 

 need hire no labour. Then, too, a series of improvements may 

 extend over a period of years. Harvesting is always to be done 

 as a part of the maintenance of the woodlot. This means a 

 constant income. It is the man who goes to his woodlot only 

 to chop and haul out poles and firewood that gets the lowest rate 

 of interest on his investment, and who declares truthfully that his 

 woodlot doesn't pay. 



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