338 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



There is no good reason why our farm forests should produce only 

 firewood and similar low-grade material. They can, and should, produce 

 a very large share of the Nation's railroad ties, telephone and telegraph 

 poles, cooperage material, tanbark and acidwood, veneer logs and even 

 lumber. 



the value of the wood crop, if it is rightly handled, 

 understands the conditions which must be maintained 

 to grow good timber, and grasps the nature of the damage 

 which overgrazing does, he can readily work out for 

 himself how to make his woodland best answer his needs. 



From the standpoint of timber alone, most farm wood- 

 lands as at present handled serve principally for one or 

 both of two main purposes. They afford shelter to 

 crops, buildings, and stock, and they furnish a ready 

 supply of firewood, fence posts, and other low-grade 

 material for farm uses or for sale in nearby communities. 

 Of the $195,000,000 forest crop of 1909, the farms 

 themselves used $103,000,000 worth, and only $92,000,000 

 worth was sold. 



In striking contrast to this figure, the total value of 

 all forest products for the United States was more than 

 a billion dollars, of which approximately three-fourths 

 came from the woodlands owned by lumbermen. Few 

 people realize that farmers own as large an area of forest 

 land as do all the lumbermen and other private owners 

 combined. Yet 

 such is the 

 case. More- 

 over, the farm 

 forests, in most 

 instances, have 

 a decided ad- 

 vantage over 

 the holdings of 

 other owners, 



in that they are usually easy of access and are close to 

 a market for the low-grade material that is wasted in 

 most lumbering operations. In fact, this low-grade 

 material, really almost a by-product of the main busi- 

 ness of growing timber, is, in a very large proportion of 

 cases, about all that the farm forests now produce. 



This condition is due entirely to neglect and lack of 

 knowledge of woodlot care. With any treatment, or 

 lack of treatment, which stops short of the most ruinous 

 abuse, the farm forest will provide shelter, and also a 

 certain amount of firewood, fencing, and similar material. 

 But it will not be a profitable part of the farm. There 

 is no more reason to feel satisfied with a woodlot which 

 merely fills these needs than there is to be satisfied with 

 wheat which yields only five bushels to the acre, or 

 with orchards which produce only cider apples, and 

 less than half a crop at that. 



It is not yet generally understood that forest crops 

 also may be greatly improved, both in volume and 

 quantity, if care is used in handling the woodlots. That 

 this is true has been amply demonstrated not only in 

 other countries, where returns from woodlands are often 

 a very important part of the farm revenues, but also in 

 every part of the United States where a fair trial has 

 been made. On many of the farms in the white pine 

 belt of central New England, saw-timber furnishes the 

 best-paying crop produced. There is no good reason 

 why our farm forest should produce only firewood and 

 similar low-grade material. They can, and should, pro- 

 duce a very large share of the nation's railroad ties, 



telephone and telegraph poles, cooperage material, tan- 

 bark and acidwood, veneer logs, and even of lumber. 

 When trees are cut from time to time merely to 

 supply farm needs as they arise, with no definite plan 

 or forethought for future needs, the woodlands, of 

 course become run down. If when the farmer wants a 

 few fence posts or his winter's firewood, he selects the 

 trees which will work up most easily or are most con- 

 venient to get out, the chances are that he will remove 

 the very trees which ought to be left until they develop 

 into high-grade material. Then later, when perhaps he 

 wants to raise some ready money, instead of a valuable 

 stand of readily salable timber he may find on his wood- 

 land a poor growth of trees fit only for firewood. Rela- 

 tively few farm woodlands are fully stocked, and fewer 

 still are stocked with the kinds of trees that will produce 

 the greatest return. Using these lands to grow poor 

 crops of inferior wood is very much like using good 

 pasture land to support scrub cattle. Certainly, no good 

 farmer would market steadily the best animals from a 



herd of cows 

 and breed from 

 the poorest. 



Recent de- 

 velopments are 

 bringing out 

 much more 

 clearly than 

 ever before the 

 opportunities 

 to make farm woodlands yield a good return. The in- 

 creasing scarcity of many important and high-priced 

 woods, such as black walnut, black locust, red cedar, ash, 

 hickory, and white oak, is resulting in an intensive comb- 

 ing over of the small holdings in many parts of the 

 country. In some sections, the search for timber for 

 box boards or for pulp is almost as intensive. The ex- 

 tension of good roads and the development of the motor- 

 truck have made it possible, in many instances, for buyers 

 to scour a region and even to pick up single trees, where 

 formerly they could not consider any lots less than a 

 carload. Farmers who have been farsighted enough to 

 maintain their woods in first-class condition are now in a 

 position to begin to reap the benefits, if they have not 

 ahe.dy done so. Those who have overlooked the possi- 

 bilities of timber as a money-producing crop should take 

 immediate steps to develop this important source of 

 farm revenue. 



More than half of the entire hardwood forest area in 

 the country is on farms, and, with the cutting out and 

 gradual clearing of the larger hardwood tracts, they 

 must, more and more, come to be the main source of 

 supply for many of our most valuable woods. Among 

 these are the oaks, walnut, yellow poplar, hickory, ash, 

 maple, elm, and beech, which are indispensible for many 

 of our most important wood-using industries, such as 

 the manufacture of furniture, vehicles, and farm tools 

 and machinery. Farmers own about one-third of all the 

 (Continued on page 342) 





