STATUS AND VALUE OF FARM WOODLOTS. 39 



area occupied is considerable. This should be considered in starting 

 windbreaks. Planting them on an extensive scale to protect large 

 areas is justified when their combined protective and timber value 

 can be expected to equal or exceed the value of field crops which 

 might be grown on the same area. 



The relative value of the direct and indirect benefits of timber units 

 is determined by the moisture conditions of the climate. Where, as 

 in all the eastern States except parts of the Lake States and most of 

 Iowa, the annual precipitation is over 30 inches, the crop protection 

 is small, and windbreaks may be positively injurious around poorly 

 drained farm land, but for orchard and home protection their value 

 may be great enough to justify their existence, even without consid- 

 ering their wood-producing value. Where the annual precipitation 

 is less than 30 inches the value of protection to crops is likely to be 

 greater. 



AS A POOR-LAND CROP. 



On poor soils and on slopes too steep for successful cultivation, 

 timber aifords an excellent means of getting at least a moderate 

 income. One objection often raised against woodlots is that trees 

 take too long to mature, so that the owner can not hope to realize on 

 his investment if it involves raising the stand from its youth. Even 

 if the wood crop can be harvested only once in a lifetime, however, 

 a net income may often be obtained which will represent as high an 

 interest rate on the investment as other farm crops raised on better 

 soils. 



There are two general ways of managing a timber crop, depending 

 upon whether the woodlot is to be maintained for its indirect bene- 

 fits to the farm, the wood yield being a secondary but important ob- 

 ject, or whether it is to be managed primarily as a wood-raising 

 investment. In the first case, the farmer would keep his woodlot 

 intact, cutting a few trees here and there as they reached large, mer- 

 chantable size, and supplying himself with fuel from their branches 

 and from defective or crowded trees removed from time to time to 

 keep the stand in a good, rapid-growing condition. If care is taken 

 to prevent overcutting, overgrazing, and fire, and if a good under- 

 growth of desirable species is encouraged, the stand can thus be per- 

 petuated indefinitely, and the farmer can afford to raise some trees 

 of high value but slow growth, like hickory and white oak, as well as 

 large trees of more rapid-growing species, like black walnut and yel- 

 low poplar. If financial profit from the sale of wood products is the 

 chief aim, a safe margin of income over all costs of raising and 

 marketing must be reasonably certain. The cost of raising timber 

 includes planting (if this is done), subsequent upkeep, and taxes. 

 In addition, some charge must be made against the use of the land, 



