4 FUTURE FORESTRY IN IOWA 



of cheaper or inferior woods for various purposes after treatment 

 with preservatives. Good forestry may be practiced just as 

 effectively through conservative use as through scientific pro- 

 duction of forest products. 



MEASURES STIMULATING FORESTRY 



Iowa has probably taken advantage of the legislative acts 

 encouraging tree planting as* much as any other state. It is 

 estimated that the State now has about 210,100 acres in planted 

 timber, a large portion of which was set out in the early days. 

 The early plantings consisted mostly in the short-lived trees 

 willow, cottonwood and soft maple. These woodlots have given 

 good returns not only from the wood produced but by the pro- 

 tection afforded the home buildings, orchards, annual crops and 

 feed lots. 



A later attempt to encourage timber planting came in 1907 

 when a tax exemption bill was passed. This act, in substance, 

 provided for the taxation of woodlots of not less than two acres 

 on an assessed valuation of one dollar per acre, provided the 

 land was stocked with a certain number of trees of specified 

 species and provided further that all live stock was excluded 

 from the woodlot. 



The State Horticultural Society has been a factor in stimu- 

 lating activities in forestry, especially those phases relating to 

 the farm. Later, the Iowa Park and Forestry Association (now 

 the Iowa Forestry and Conservation Association) in conjunction 

 with the Horticultural Society has been a means of disseminating 

 information regarding the planting and care of woodlots. Some 

 work, also, has been done by the educational institutions of the 

 State in meeting the forestry problems. 



THE WINDBREAK IN IOWA 



We sometimes wonder if the early settlers in Iowa planted 

 the rows of cottonwoods, willows and maples merely because 

 they had nothing better to do. Observations will show that 

 these pioneers had a definite object in view that of protecting 

 their crops, buildings and stock against the drying winds of 

 summer and the cold winds of winter. We find numerous in- 

 stances of a later generation cutting down the windbreaks for 

 the avowed reason that they sap or shade the soil too much and 



