STATUS AND VALUE OF FARM WOODLOTS. 15 



In every State, except Minnesota and Massachusetts (Nantucket 

 Island), there was a decrease in Division I; four States showed in- 

 creases in Division II and two showed a marked falling off in Di- 

 vision VI. 1 In most of the States the decrease was more rapid in 

 the small woodlot than in the large woodlot regions. In Iowa, 

 where over half the farm woodland is in Division I, the reverse was 

 the case; the decrease in Division I was only 4.4 per cent, while in 

 the other two divisions represented it was 27 and 21.2 per cent, re- 

 spectively. This would indicate that in Iowa the farmers appreciate 

 the value of small woodlots more than in many other States. It is 

 partly accounted for by the planting of prairie windbreaks and tree 

 plantations. 



Though the decrease in woodland has been caused chiefly by the 

 need of land for cultivation or grazing, a great deal of farm land 

 has been left unimproved when cleared. The area of unimproved 

 unwooded farm land in the Eastern States, according to the census 

 of 1910, is 40,429,951 acres, 2 or about 8 per cent of all farm land. 

 Between 1880 and 1910 this land increased over 34 per cent in 

 amount, while the increase in total farm holdings was less than 

 12 per cent. It is true that some of this increase, especially in 

 regions like the northern part of the Lake States, can be accounted 

 for by the acquisition by farmers of stump lands not yet in shape 

 for cultivation. Some of it may be used for grazing, but not a large 

 amount, for in taking the census statistics pasture land was usually 

 classed as " improved." In the East, as a whole, it is probable that 

 the greater part of this class of land has remained idle, partly be- 

 cause the farmer did not have the means to improve it and partly 

 because it was too poorly drained, too steep, or too stony for suc- 

 cessful cultivation. 



The acreage of unimproved and unwooded land in 1910, its pro- 

 portion to the total area of farm land, and the proportionate increase 

 or decrease since 1880 are shown for each State and division in 

 Table 5. 



*As is indicated by the blank spaces in the table, in some States there are no areas 

 of county size in several of the divisions. 



2 This is the net amount after making the deduction referred to in the footnote on 

 p. 3. The aggregate area of unimproved and unwooded farm land in these States, 

 as given in the census of 1910, is 40,779,673 acres. 



63299°— Bull. 481—17 3 



