THE ORIGIN AND USES OF THE WOODLOT 5 



could supply the country indefinitely with lumber. The 

 present stand of timber on these woodlots is very large. It is 

 estimated to exceed 250 billion board feet of saw timber and 

 lYz billion cords of cordwood. It is because of the great value 

 of the farm woodlot to the nation as well as to the individual 

 farmer that the woodlot problem is of importance. 



Value of the Woodlot to the Farm. — A well stocked 

 thrifty woodlot enhances the value of the farm property. 

 Instances are not rare where farms have been purchased and 

 the sale of the products from the woodlot when cleared have 

 more than covered the cost of the farm. The woodlot serves 

 as a reserve fund on which the owner of the farm can call 

 at any time for financial backing. The purchase of fuel wood, 

 posts and other products means the throwing away of profits 

 on these necessary articles. In addition to this is the effort 

 and expense of hauling the material an increased distance. 

 Grown in the farm woodlot this material would cost nothing 

 except the annual taxes and the interest charges together 

 with the actual cost of getting the products out of the woodlot. 

 The profits would remain in the hands of the owner. 



Woodlots on Fertile Soil. — Where woodlots are grown on 

 fertile soil the point is soon reached where it may be more 

 profitable to do away with the woodlot and purchase wood 

 supplies than to maintain the woodlot. But if the woodlot is 

 increasing at the rate of one and a half to two cords per acre 

 per year, which will be possible on fertile soil with well stocked 

 woodlots of thrifty and fast growing trees, it often will 

 be more profitable to maintain the woodlot on fertile soil than 

 to grow an ordinary farm crop. In the central western states 

 where trees are not plentiful and fence posts must be brought 

 long distances at considerable expense for freight, plantations 

 of trees for growing fenceposts have often been found to 

 yield a higher annual profit than the same kind of land de- 

 voted to raising farm crops. As a rule the woodlot occupies 

 the poor soil on the farm, and on such soil the only profitable 



