THE FARM WOODLOT 529 



A sale contract covering methods of cutting, payments, fire protection, 

 provision against waste and excessive damage should be drawn. 



The New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse has provided a 

 selling service for the private timberland owners of the state. Two years 

 ago a study of the wood-using industries was made in connection with the 

 Federal Forest Service, and at that time considerable data concerning 

 stumpage prices, costs of manufacture and value of manufactured products, 

 etc., were secured. This information is on record in a card catalog, and 

 when a farmer or small land owner writes for information concerning the 

 management of his woodlot and a possible sale, he is put in touch with the 

 nearest manufacturer, and the dimension and grades in demand and aver- 

 age selling price given him. By this means the College of Forestry is acting 

 as a clearing house for information and is endeavoring to secure a fair 

 price for the man who raised the forest crop. In the extension of this 

 scheme of co-operative marketing of forest products lies the future profit- 

 able management of non-arable lands by the farmers of this country. 



As previously stated, forestry must be financially profitable, else it 

 will not be practiced by the business men of this country. The farmer, 

 however, is in the best possible position of all owners of forest land to 

 practice forestry, for he has the land, he has an annual income from 

 his arable land, and finally, he has the winter season to work in his 

 woodlot. 



European experience proves beyond a doubt that forestry does pay 

 good dividends — from $2.50 to $7 per acre per year net revenue — while 

 from the woodlots of this country, a revenue of $109,000,000 in 1899 and 

 $195,000,000 in 1909 was obtained. 



Forest plantations will yield from four to five per cent compound 

 interest upon the value of the land, plus the cost of planting. Thus it can 

 be proven conclusively that the practice of forestry is a paying proposition 

 at present stumpage values, while the reduction in the timbered area 

 will cause an increase in these values and much higher yields will be 

 obtained. 



Summary. — The farm woodlot should be treated as a producing 

 portion of the farm, and the following points should be borne in mind : 



1. Tend your woodlot during the slack periods. It will pay hand- 



somely. 



2. Cut your firewood and fence posts where cuttings are needed, 



and not where it is easiest to cut. 



3. Do not permit fires to run rampant through the woods. It kills 



the little trees and checks the growth of the big ones. 



4. Do not permit extensive grazing in the woodlot. If more pasture 



is needed, clear-cut the best land and sow to grass. You 

 can't raise good grass and good timber on the same piece of land. 



5. Use the same energy and business sense in selling a crop of trees 



as you would in selling a crop of apples. Know how much you 



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