FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 79 



important item in this conservation program will be the 

 prevalence of wood-burning furnaces in the farm homes, 

 the wood being obtained either from wood lots or the 

 home farm. In the aggregate, this practice would re- 

 sult in an immense saving of coal. Forests are the only 

 crop that can be grown in all rough or mountainous 

 regions. Great areas in both the East and West are 

 useless for anything else, and they are now producing 

 only intermittently and fitfully their full capacity of 

 forest products. It is almost impossible to expect in- 

 dividual owners to change this situation. Possibly trust 

 companies can be encouraged to invest in and develop 

 forest areas on a scientific basis as a means of utilizing 

 funds in their charge. But in general it may be said 

 that the only possible way of establishing and main- 

 taining an adequate forest policy is for the government 

 to do it. Not only the federal government but each 

 state should be moving in this direction as rapidly as 

 possible. It means the best use of the land, better con- 

 ditions for farming due to the effect on conservation of 

 water, cheaper lumber and so on. Not the least of the 

 possibilities of forestry consists in the fact that a scien- 

 tific forestry policy carried on by a state over a series 

 of years could be made to yield a substantial income 

 for the support of some permanent interest of the state, 

 such as the public schools. Variations of the effort to 

 grow trees for wood products, are the growing of 

 nut-bearing trees, sugar- and oil-bearing trees, and of 

 ornamental trees and shrubs. 



City Forestry. The water supply of a city is a vital 

 concern. As a region becomes exceedingly populous, 

 the difficulty in keeping a supply both adequate and pure 

 increases. There is no doubt that for larger cities at 

 least the question of adequate forestration of the areas 



