204 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



land, and will be so more and more in the future. Of the 426,000,000 

 acres of unimproved farm land, about 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 

 acres are now estimated as woodlots, although not all farm woodlots 

 are necessarily on intermediate land. The rest is swamps, barrens, 

 and tide lands. With the increase in population and the increasing 

 demand for farm lands for cultivation, the areas of individual woodlots 

 will probably shrink. The number of woodlots, however, will 

 undoubtedly increase as the people more fully realize their value as a 

 protection against erosion, winds, and frost, and the woodlot will play 

 an essential part in intensive methods of farm management. While 

 it is difficult to predict their exact extent, it is safe to assume that 

 there will always be a large area of farm woodlots. These woodlots 

 will in the future, as at present, produce the posts, poles, and fuel 

 needed on the farm and will grow some timber as well. 



Thus, in order to provide a population of 150,000,000 people with 

 all the timber needed for construction, ties, poles, pulp, and all the 

 various uses for which wood seems to be the only suitable material, 

 there will be available an area of about 360,000,000 acres, in addition 

 to the area under woodlots, which may be liberally estimated as 

 100,000,000 acres, or a total of only about 450,000,000 acres of forest 

 land against the present 550,000,000 acres. This forest land, in addi- 

 tion to supplying the timber, must also protect the soil from erosion, 

 regulate the stream flow, and exert its wholesome influence upon the 

 lives of the people. 



Will this area be sufficient ? 



While we have at present no accurate means of determining the 

 extent of forest land necessary for the regulation of stream flow and 

 the protection of the soil against erosion, it may be inferred from a 

 study of the conditions existing in other countries that, in order not 

 to disturb the natural balance, the proportion of forest land to other 

 kinds of land must be not less than from one-fifth to one-third of the 

 total area of the country. 



With the exception of those countries which have naturally a 

 humid climate, like Great Britain or the Netherlands, the countries 

 with a forest area of only 20 per cent or less show usually to a marked 

 degree bad climatic conditions, with prolonged droughts, frosts, and 

 alternating floods and low water, as a result of the reduced forest area. 

 Portugal, with a forest area of only 3^ per cent of the total; Spain, 

 with 16 per cent; Greece, with 13 per cent; Turkey, with 20 per cent; 

 and Italy, with 14 per cent, are good examples. 



