1520 



Canadian Fort'slri) Journal, Fehruarij, U)1S 



Since the present estimate of cord- 

 wood cut in United States is 100,000,- 

 000 cords this means an increase of 

 75 per cent, in the output of cord- 

 wood over the normal annual con- 

 sumption. Those responsible for the 

 movement will be well satisfied, be- 

 cause of the shortage of labor, if an 

 increase of 25 per cent, can be ob- 

 tained the present year. 



How it is Organized 



The method of organizing the wood 

 fuel campaign has varied somewhat 

 in the various States, but in almost 

 every State where progress has been 

 made the Federal Fuel Administra- 

 tor of the State has appointed a Wood 

 Fuel Committee to direct the move- 

 ment. This Committee usually con- 

 sists of the Fuel Administrator as 

 Chairman, the Director of Extension 

 at the Agricultural College, the Chair- 

 man of the State Council of De- 

 fense, the State Forester., or Pro- 

 fessor of Forestry at the Agricultural 

 College. In some States this State 

 Committee has in turn appointed 

 County Committees. In nearly all 

 cases the work in the county is car- 

 ried on jointly by the County Fuel 

 Administrator and the County Agri- 

 cultural Agent. 



The methods of conducting the 

 campaign have been along the follow- 

 ing general lines: 



1. Publicity along two lines to 

 popularize the use of wood by con- 

 sumers; and to encourage the pro- 

 duction of wood by woodland owners. 

 This has been done through the news- 

 papers, posters, movies, the pulpit, 

 the schools and in other ways. An 

 attractive, though too detailed, post- 

 er has been used through New 

 England. 



2. Stimulating production by guar- 

 anteeing a market for the product. 

 The price of wood varies greatly in 

 diOerent parts of the country accord- 

 ing to the price of coal; from $5 to $6 

 a cord in the vicinity of the soft coal 

 mines of Missouri, and Illinois Lo $15 

 to $18 in the cities of New England. 

 Under the former conditions prac- 

 tically nothing is allowed for stump- 

 age, and there is little incentive to cut. 

 Where the very high prices obtain on 



the other hand no one will burn wood 

 or even order it so long as any coal is 

 obtainable. In view of the disas- 

 trous result of fixing a maximum 

 price for coal it has not been thought 

 best to establish any such price for 

 wood. Unless there .is an embargo 

 on shipping coal into w^ooded dis- 

 tricts, woodland owners are naturally 

 afraid of an over-production of wood 

 and a consequent drop in the price. 

 This conservation, especially on the 

 part of farmers, must be met by some 

 method of guaranteeing a market for 

 wood at a remunerative price. Several 

 methods are being worked out in the 

 various States. The safety of all of 

 them rests upon the fact that the 

 Fuel Administrator may exclude coal 

 if he sees fit and thus maintain the 

 value of the wood. 



The Plan in Maine 



In Maine the local committee has 

 made a careful canvass of the pos- 

 sible consumers to determine how 

 much wood could be disposed of at a 

 definite price. The plan is to allot 

 these individual orders to the various 

 farmers in the region. In this way the 

 committee acts as a clbaring house to 

 bring producer and consumer to- 

 gether. 



In Tennessee and New Hampshire 

 the matter has been handled some- 

 what differently b^' the formation 

 of War Fuel Companies. A few 

 public-spirited citizens get together 

 and form a company to buy wood and 

 sell it either at cost or at a price 

 sufficient to give them a 6 per cent, 

 profit. 



Municipal Yards Best 



The best method of guaranteeing a 

 market is undoubtedly through the 

 establishment of municipal wood 

 yards. More progress along this line 

 has been made in the South than in the 

 North. For example, a number of 

 cities in Georgia have prevented 

 much suffering among the poor by 

 estabhshing municipal wood yards. 

 In Athens the local fuel administra- 

 tion has set a price of $6 a cord for 

 pine delivered, and $7 for hardwood. 



In North Carolina at least twenty 

 cities and towns now have municipal 

 wood yards in operation. Detailed 



