20 BULLETIN 638,, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



go too. Business dwindles away to little or nothing, and it is not 

 long before the rails are pulled up and the region left inaccessible 

 and desolate. Hundreds of miles of abandoned railroad grades with 

 rotting ties are to be seen where the history of the lumber industry 

 has taken this course. 



In regions where large areas of absolute forest land are inter- 

 spersed with patches of good agricultural land the same thing is true. 

 Complete removal of the forest means a marked depreciation in the 

 value of the farm land, if not its entire abandonment. With the tim- 

 ber gone, the amount of freight to be handled is reduced to such an 

 extent that it may be unprofitable for the railroad to continue oper- 

 ation ; and even if the railroad is maintained, the decreased business 

 to be taken care of necessarily involves poorer service. If the forests 

 were so handled as to insure continuous production, transportation 

 facilities then could be maintained, agriculture developed wherever 

 conditions were favorable, and the fullest possible utilization secured 

 of all the resources of the region. 



In this connection it is worth while to note that on land of average 

 quality the production, in weight, of wood material is fully as great 

 as. if not greater than, that of farm crops. Suppose, for example, 

 that an acre of land will produce 1,500 pounds a year, dry weight, 

 of wheat or oats, including both grain and straw. The same land, 

 even if given practically no attention, should produce at least half 

 a cord of wood a year, with approximately the same dry weight. 

 If the forest is properly handled, however, it should be possible to 

 double this yield, giving an advantage of 1,500 pounds in favor of 

 the wood. On poor land, scarcely fitted for agriculture at all, the 

 comparison undoubtedly would be even more favorable to the wood. 



A LOWER STANDARD OF POPULATION. 



One of the unfortunate results of the failure of lumber operations, 

 as usually conducted, to build up well-organized, stable communi- 

 ties is seen .both in the character of the population dependent on it 

 and in that left on the cut -over lands after the industry has moved on. 



The average lumberjack is a hardy, picturesque figure ; but, moving 

 from place to place and from region to region as the timber is cut 

 out, he necessarily leads a roving, restless existence. A permanent 

 home and a normal family life are impossible. In western Washing- 

 ton, for example, only 14 per cent of the employees in logging camps 

 are married. 1 For these few the difficulties in the way of leading an 

 orderly life, of maintaining a normal home, and of giving their chil- 

 dren even a fair education are almost insuperable. A typical lumber 



1 " Need of Working Plans on National Forests and the Policies Which Should Be 

 Embodied in Them," by B. P. Kirkland, in the Proceedings of the Society of American 

 Foresters, Vol. X, No. 4. 



