AMERICAN FORESTRY 



261 



FARM WOODLANDS AN ASSET 



Tj 1 ARM owners are slowly waking to the fact that their 

 ^ woodlands are an asset instead of a liability. Their 

 200,000,000 acres well on to 40 per cent of the total 

 timbered area of the United States today must be made 

 to do their part by adding to their owner's income, and 

 our country's wealth. 



What do owners desire of their woodlands? 



Many are looking at the aesthetic side and are beginning 

 to realize the extent to which woodland adds to the 

 beauty of the farming country, and to the desirability of 

 country living. To a very considerable extent, these 

 owners and their neighbors can "eat their cake, and 

 have it, too," for the forester can show them how to 

 harvest their timber crop, and yet preserve the external 

 general appearance of the piece of woodland. 



A large number appreciate as never before the relation 

 between the permanence of springs and streams and the 

 presence of a woodland cover. But here again the for- 

 ester can help the farmer by showing him how he may 

 cut his timber crop and yet protect the water resources 

 of his farm. 



The shelterbelt or windbreak of mid-western farms is 

 well recognized as a highly desirable feature and in 

 many cases, as essential to the farmer's proper develop- 

 ment. But farmers of other parts of the country as 

 well place a high value on the protection against the 

 wind furnished by their woodlands. All such can and 

 should call on the forester to show them how they may 



harvest the timber crop, and yet continue to enjoy the 

 greatest measure of protection. 



Other farm owners, may desire a cover for small game 

 or a cover to prevent erosion with its ruinous effects upon 

 lower-lying lands. The assistance which can be rendered 

 the farm owner in this connection is obvious. 



And last, but not least, comes the farm owner's pro- 

 duction of timber, maple sugar, or some other forest 

 product, for his own needs or for sale. He need only 

 inquire the retail price of very ordinary lumber today 

 to learn that there is money in it for some one. Practi- 

 cally all forest products are selling well. The growing 

 of timber for sale or use is a coming business. 



In connection with this whole question it appears that 



The treatment given by the farmer to his woodland 

 affects the well-being of the country. 



Only a small percentage of farm woodland owners 

 today realize what possibilities exist in their woodlands. 



Farm woodland owners will sooner or later be expected 

 by the general public to so manage their lands that they 

 can actually contribute to the country's forest products. 



The farm woodland owner should look to the federal 

 government and the state government to provide the 

 necessary technical assistance. The machinery now exists 

 in the Smith-Lever Act. Funds and technical assistance 

 will be forthcoming when woodland owners in great 

 enough numbers make their needs known through their 

 County Farm Bureaus. 



SOME TERRIFIC FACTS ABOUT FOREST DEVASTATION 



TNDER the above headline the Birmingham, Alabama, 

 *"' News has a forceful editorial based upon informa- 

 tion sent out by the publicity department of the American 

 Forestry Association to the newspapers of the United 

 States in the campaign to secure a national forest policy. 

 Like most wide-awake editors, the editor of the News 

 realizes the vital need for perpetuating our forests. In 

 his editorial he says: 



"The American Forestry Association calls attention 

 to the fact that the forest fires in this country burn ten 

 times the area of devastated France every year. Using 

 that terrific fact as a text, Charles Lathrop Pack, presi- 

 dent of the Association, preaches a powerful sermon on 

 the imperative need for a national forest policy. 



"He explains why the penny newspaper and the two- 

 penny newspaper are things of the past. He sees in the 

 gradual depletion of American forestry an actual menace 

 to education. Some of his recent utterances are alarming, 

 and the data, carefully gathered, confirm the opinion 

 rapidly spreading that unless the United States buckles 

 down to forest conservation, not only will newsprint be- 

 come higher, but agriculture must inevitably suffer. 



"Increase in the use of newsprint has been 200 per cent 

 in twenty years, and the population has increased 70 

 per cent. That means a great reading public and a more 

 widely reading public. Ten years ago, President Pack 



points out, the United States produced its entire supply 

 of pulp wood, but now two-thirds of it is imported. This 

 means freight rates to be added to the purchase price. 

 Here are some of the points touching the problem as 

 tabulated by the American Forestry Association. 



"The use of pulp wood in the manufacture of news- 

 print paper has been developed only in the last 50 years. 

 Of all the paper used in the United States 22 per cent 

 is used by the newspapers. 



"Before the war newsprint paper sold for about 2 cents 

 a pound; now it sells in large quantities for 5 cents a 

 pound, and in small quantities up to 10 cents a pound. 



"Dependence upon foreign supplies of pulpwood for 

 newsprint means that we will be at the mercy of foreign 

 manufacturers as to prices. 



"All exports of pulpwood for Newfoundland and from 

 the crown lands in Canada have been prohibited. 



"But the conservation of timber for newsprint purposes 

 is even less important than the conservation of forestry 

 for the making of homes for human beings to live in. 

 And while the Forestry Association states that most of 

 the pulpwood for newsprint is obtained from New Eng- 

 land and the Lake States, there seems no reason what- 

 ever for the Southern States further to neglect this oppor- 

 tunity for creating a great new and profitable industry." 



