26 BULLETIN 4-81, U. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



standard cord * of wood per acre per year. At this rate an aggre- 

 gate annual yield of 71,500,000 cords could be expected in perpetuity 

 from the present total woodlot area of 143,000,000 acres. To equal 

 the total income from farm wood as reported by the census of 1910, 

 the value per cord would have to be only $2.38. 



If it is assumed that the permanent woodlot area of the future will 

 amount to an average of 10 acres per farm 2 or a total for the Eastern 

 States of 49,030.850 acres (based on the number of farms in 1910), 

 the sustained annual yield supported by a growth of one-half cord 

 per acre per year would aggregate 24,515,425 cords. In order to 

 equal the income from woodlots in 1910 the value per cord would 

 have to be $6.93, nearly three times as great as that previously as- 

 sumed; but it is not improbable that future stumpage values will 

 rise to this or even to higher levels. 



As the population increases farming tends to become more inten- 

 sive and the application of scientific principles to farming more 

 essential. These principles involve, above all, the careful study of 

 the productivity of the various kinds of soil on the farm and the 

 choice for each kind of soil of the kind of crop best adapted to it. 

 This means that wood, considered as a farm crop, will be raised only 

 on soils which can not be made to yield a greater revenue from some 

 other crop. In the pioneering stage of agriculture wood has had, 

 and in man}^ sections still has, a very low value compared with other 

 crops which might be raised on much of the same land. In the more 

 thickly settled regions, however, its relative value has increased in 

 the past, and as the population becomes dense and the present large 

 timber supplies fail this value may be expected to increase still more 

 in relation to other crops. In other words, the quality of soil on 

 which it will be profitable to keep woodlots for productive purposes 

 alone may, in the light of future intensification of agriculture, be 

 higher than one would be likely, at first glance, to suppose. This 

 presupposes, of course, as high scientific thought and attention to 

 the woodlot in the selection of species, stimulation of growth, and 

 other silvicultural treatment as would be given any of the other farm 

 crops by a farmer bent on getting the most out of every square rod of 

 his land. 



As an immediate measure too much emphasis can not be placed on 

 the importance to farm and community alike of retarding to a rea- 



1 A standard cord is a pile of wood in 4-foot lengths, measuring 8 by 4 by 4 feet, and 

 containing 12S cubic feet. The cord unit is used here to represent growth not only in 

 fuel wood, but also in logs, poles, and other high-grade forms customarily measured in 

 board feet or other units. This should be borne in mind with reference to the prices per 

 cord which follow ; these would of course be excessive for ordinary cordwood. In 

 ini'dium-sized or small timber 1,000 board feet, Scribner, are usually considered equivalent 

 to from 2 to 5 cords of cordwood. 



-The present average is 29.2 acres. (See Table G. ) 



