COMPARISON OF FOREST WITH AGRICULTURAL VALUES 239 



the present saleable timber, it will inevitably result in listing 

 rapidly all lands of agricultural value whether or not they are 

 covered with young trees, provided only that the merchantable 

 stand is not too dense or valuable. If this policy is demanded 

 by dearth of farm land in these regions it should be carried out, 

 but the basis upon which the classification is made must be 

 frankly recognized as expediency rather than sound appraisals 

 of value. 



251. Reciprocal Values in Forestry and Agriculture. Forest 

 and agricultural values cannot be considered as wholly sepa- 

 rate. On every agricultural unit there is need of a certain 

 amount of forest land to furnish wood for fuel, fence posts and 

 even lumber, and as shelter for stock and windbreaks. In 

 treeless prairies the planted grove greatly enhances the desira- 

 bility of the whole property as a residence and adds in this way 

 far more to the sale value of the farm than is accounted for 

 by the possible revenue which this grove could produce. In 

 wooded regions the labor of clearing is so great that two or even 

 three decades must elapse before the entire farm will be brought 

 under cultivation by the efforts of the farmer, unless aided by 

 investing the necessary capital in clearing on a large scale. 

 Meanwhile the woodlots will grow at an appreciable rate and 

 young timber at first but a few feet tall will become large 

 enough for use. In many regions this wooded portion may also 

 be grazed without undue injury to the trees, if the latter have 

 sufficient height. 



Every effort should be made by owners of such tracts to spare 

 and encourage areas of reproduction and of young timber, more 

 especially when such growth occurs on the poorer portions, 

 steeper slopes and more inaccessible parts of the farm. In 

 this way each part of the farm unit is put to its best use, the 

 maximum returns are obtained, and the sale value of the entire 

 property will usually exceed the sum of the forest and agricul- 

 tural values when separately considered. 



