THE POSSIBILITIES OF FARM WOODLAND DEVELOPMENT, ETC. 



787 



destroy their future usefulness. Through expert advice 

 upon how and what timber to cut from farm woodlands, 

 great quantities of cordwood in the aggregate can be 

 secured without damaging their productive capacity. The 

 woodland lends itself very well to demonstrations of 

 various kinds such as improvement cuttings, estimating 

 timber, planting to secure windbreaks or better stands, 

 efficient cutting and marketing of products, preservative 

 treatment of fence posts, and a number of others. There 

 is no question of the legality of such work under the 

 terms of the bill. It has already had the approval of the 

 States Relations Service of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, and Extension Directors in several 

 States. There is apparent- 

 ly no reason why the farm 

 woodland should not come 

 in for attention and a great 

 many reasons why it should. 

 All that now needs to be 

 done by those interested in 

 this phase of agriculture is 

 to impress upon the State 

 Extension Director the im- 

 mediate necessity for initi- 

 ating such work, and assist- 

 ing him to do it. 



The best means of giving 

 such work permanency and 

 effectiveness appears to be 

 for the agricultural colleges 

 from which the extension 

 work is directed to attach 

 to their staffs for this par- 

 ticular purpose an expert in 

 forestry. His position would be similar to that of an 

 expert in dairying, for instance, who is attached for the 

 purpose of improving the dairying conditions throughout 

 the State. The forestry expert would be able to take 

 advantage of the system of county agents and through 

 them reach more people than through any plan in which 

 he would have to work alone. There is little question 

 but that through assistance given in the sale of wood- 

 lands products alone he would each year save to wood- 

 land owners in the State many times his salary. In 

 teaching them how to care for their woodlands he would 

 be making provision for future supplies of farm timber 



and increasing the value of the farms. His duties would 

 not interfere with those of the State Forester, and in most 

 cases at least he would be welcomed and given as much 

 assistance as possible by the State Forester. In several 

 States, such experts have already been employed by the 

 agricultural college. 



Where in the opinion of the State Extension Director 

 conditions do not at present warrant the employment of 

 such a man, it may still be possible for the State Forest 

 Service to carry on such work in co-operation with the 

 State Extension Service of the College. At least two 

 State foresters are already doing so with entirely satis- 

 factory results. If a State Forester wishes to conduct 



work in line with provisions 

 of the Smith-Lever Act 

 and can allot for that pur- 

 pose a certain amount of 

 his appropriation to a pro- 

 ject which will come under 

 the direction of the State 

 Extension Director at the 

 college, there is little doubt 

 that many of these direc- 

 tors would be willing to 

 submit such a project to the 

 United States Department 

 of Agriculture for approval. 

 On the strength of funds 

 allotted by the State For- 

 ester for this purpose, the 

 Extension Director would 

 be in a position to request 

 an equal amount of Federal 

 Smith-Lever money to meet 

 it providing, of course, the States' entire quota were 

 not already utilized in other extension projects. As each 

 State's quota of this Federal money will continue to in- 

 crease yearly until July, 1922, State Foresters have a 

 splendid opportunity to take advantage of this Smith- 

 Lever Act. They should lose no time in getting in 

 touch with the Extension Director of their State in 

 order to work out with him a project which will con- 

 form with the provisions of the law, be acceptable 

 to both, and be effective in giving the woodlands under 

 this law the consideration which their importance in the 

 general farm economy fully justifies. 



OPEN WOODLOT IN GOOD CONDITION 



A stand of sugar maple, walnut, coffee tree, ash, red oak and hickory at 

 Prospect, Marion County, Ohio. 



INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO AN AX 



?<r 



'TU1E ax is intimately associated with the history 



* of the world and has played a prominent part in 



all stages of its progress," says Mercer P. Moseley, 



Assistant Federal Fuel Administrator for the State of 



New York. 



"In Biblical lore and historical age its record is one 

 of absorbing interest. Elijah employed it as an instru- 

 mentality to strengthen the early Christian faith when 

 he performed the miracle of its rising from the depths 

 of the Jordan. Bryant's 'Forest Hymn' makes illuminat- 

 ing reference in the lines 'Ere man learned to hew the 

 shaft or lay the architrave.' Its function runs the mani- 

 fold gamut from murder to peaceful pursuit. Under 

 its stroke the heads of both kings and commoner have 



rolled in the sawdust in the days when the mob reveled 

 in the sight of blood. It was the general weapon of war 

 in ages past. Gladstone and Lincoln employed it for pur- 

 poses of healthful exercise. Boone and Crockett reck- 

 oned its indispensability with that of the rifle. Today our 

 engineers depend upon it to throw bridges across streams, 

 to erect hurried protection for front-line fighters and to 

 advance the arts of war. And those of us at home can 

 and should use the ax to split dead wood for live fires 

 and thus save coal. This modest and non-spectacular 

 performance is a distinctly patriotic and helpful con- 

 tribution to the success of our arms across the seas as 

 well as to the comfort of those left behind. Introduce 

 yourself to an ax." 



