New York led all the states in the value of farm-forest products. 

 The value was^about 7^2 million dollars' worth. About one- 

 third of the State is in timber or wood-lots. Very little of this 

 vast area is yielding anywhere near what it should. The 

 ordinary forest is half waste. Nearly every large farm in 

 most parts of the State has its woodlot, as it has its meadow, 

 its pasture or its wheat field. Farmers may receive instruc- 

 tion about all their crops with the single exception of the 

 woods crop. We ought to raise the larger part of our farm 

 lumber and timber, as we should raise our own meat and 

 butter and fruit and silage. It is all the more remarkable that 

 the farm forests do not receive attention since they exert great 

 influence in maintaining the sources and controlling the flow 

 of streams, in preventing floods, in protecting game, and in 

 making the*country attractive. Their value extends far be- 

 yond thejparticular farm on which they stand. The proper 

 destiny of much of the so-called abandoned farm land is to 

 grow forests/ Much of our remote and agriculturally un- 

 profitable land should be owned by townships and counties 

 (or by the State), and be used for forest. In time these lands 

 should return a fair revenue to the communities. New York 

 is by nature a tree-growing State. We should preserve these 

 resources and teach our people how to increase them. 



We think of farming as a dry-land business. It is a fact, 

 however, that an acre of water may be made to yield more 

 food than an acre of land. There are tens of thousands of 

 acres of fresh water in New York State, and great expanse of 

 salt water. In time we shall cultivate these fresh waters and 

 the sea shores. The man who owns a lake or pond, or has the 



17 



