FORESTS AS A FARM CROP 



BY E. T. MEREDITH, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 



(Written for American Forestry Magazine) 



A LARGER portion of the farm area of the United 

 States is devoted to wood than to any other crop. 

 The total area of woodland on farms, according 

 to the 1910 census, was double the acreage of corn, 

 nearly three times that of hay and forage, four times of 

 wheat ,and six times that of cotton. There was as much 

 farm land in woods as in all cereal crops combined. 



In New Hampshire and Vermont, the forest products 

 of farms were second only to hay and forage in total 

 value; in Maine they stood third, exceeded only by hay 

 and forage and potatoes, while in Alabama, Arkansas, 

 Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina they also held 

 third place, following corn and cotton. The value of 

 timber products from farm woodlands for the entire 

 United States was more than $195,000,000. 



Yet, in spite of the enormous area of farm woods 

 and the value of their product, this branch of farming 

 has, in practically the 

 whole country, received 

 less attention than any 

 other. Few farmers now- 

 adays would expect to 

 make a profit from their 

 wheat, corn, hay or cot- 

 ton fields, or from their 

 orchards, without giving 

 them a great deal of care 

 and attention. They cer- 

 tainly do not attempt to 

 raise these crops merely by harvesting what chances to 

 grow wild, with no preparation of the soil, no fertilizer, 

 no selection of varieties, no cultivation or weeding, no 

 protection against fires, grazing animals, or destructive 

 insects and fungous diseases. 



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 sale to say that, with very little additional 

 outlay, the woodlands now on farms could produce an 

 annual net income from timber products 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 wood-growing land 

 might increase their income, but also because of the 

 benefit to the public generally, which, with good reason, 

 is becoming deeply concerned ovc : the question of waning 

 timber supplies. The Department of Agriculture has 

 an obligation to the country in the whole matter of fo: 

 estry. Our public forests can not begin to supply our 

 needs. Private forest lands, other than the farm wood- 



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 wood-growing 

 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. 



lands, are being cut over destructively. Those owned 

 by farmers are as a rule neglected. We can no more 

 do without wood than we could do without iron or coal. 

 It is a necessity of our national life; and it must be 

 grown. The Department of Agriculture would be 

 neglecting an important field of duty were it not to con- 

 cern itself with the replacement of timber growth on 

 lands naturally best adapted to producing timber, and 

 with the most efficient handling of the lands devoted to 

 this important crop. 



The department, through one of its bureaus, the For- 

 est Service, has for years been studying the problems 

 which scientific timber production involve, and can there- 

 fore give much helpful advice to farmers as to pro- 

 gressive methods. The Department has also inaugurated 

 a nation-wide movement looking to the general practice 

 of forestry by private owners, so that the forest devasta- 

 tion, which now almost 

 universally attends or fol- 

 lows large-scale lumber- 

 ing, may be halted. 



Most farm woodlands 

 are used to a greater or 

 less extent for pasturing 

 stock. Many woodlots 

 start as open pastures, in 

 which the trees gradually 

 seed in and shade out the 

 forage crop. Others start 

 as dense forests, where the stock and frequent fires, by 

 gradually reducing the density and preventing tree re- 

 production, eventually destroy the forest or reduce it 

 to open, park-like stands of defective timber which has 

 little commercial value. Too little attention is generally 

 given to maintain the proper balance between grazing 

 use and the production of timber. 



If the main object is to raise forage crops, it would 

 be more profitable, as a general rule, to remove most 

 if not all of the tree growth. On the other hand, if the 

 land is chiefly valuable for growing trees, it should not be 

 pastured in such a way as to make impossible the profit- 

 able production of timber. One of the most serious 

 abuses to which our farm woodlands are subject is ex- 

 cessive over-grazing, or grazing with the wrong kind of 

 stock, or the annual burning which is often practiced on 

 the theory that it improves grazing. A certain amount 

 of regulated pasturage is in most regions not incompatible 

 with timber production, and indeed may be the means 

 of utilizing a very important by-product of the wood- 

 lands, and so add very materially to the revenue derived 

 from them. In some cases properly regulated grazing 

 may even be used as a silvicultural measure to improve 

 the wood crops. Once the individual farmer realizes 



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