242 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FOHESTIty. 



importance of farm wood lots as a source of fuel, poles, 

 lumber, etc., for farm use, and a more general disposition 

 to save some land for this purpose and to properly care 

 for it. 



Price of Fuel. At present, in part of the forested area in 

 many of the Western States, the forests are greatly in the 

 way of settlers, and the price of fuel is simply the cost of 

 gathering it, no charge whatever being made for the 

 wood itself. This state of things exists because not only 

 in the forests but more especially in the great area of 

 cut-over timber lands in those sections there is such an 

 immense amount of dead and down timber that it is 

 seriously in the way and far in excess of the fuel demands 

 of the settlers on those lands for a score of years to come. 

 There seems to be something incongruous in the fact 

 that while in Minnesota, for instance, one-half of the 

 State is prairie, and sadly in want of fuel and other forest 

 supplies, the other half has such a superabundance of 

 these products that they are going to waste, and only a 

 small portion is considered worth marketing. 



Value of Forest Industries of Minnesota. The market- 

 ing; of the products of the virgin forest in this country 

 has added greatly to our wealth and prosperity, and 

 under proper management this source of wealth would 

 continue indefmitel}^ Minnesota furnishes a good ex- 

 ample of the conditions in this industry in several of 

 the Western States. The value of the forests of ]\linne- 

 sota is most easily seen by showing the number of men 

 employed. According to the report of the Bureau of 

 Labor, there were employed in logging, in the year 1899- 

 1900, 15,886 men and 8,285 horses. The average time of 

 the men was about twenty weeks. They were employed 

 in 329 camps, and cut 1,112,000,000 feet board measure. 

 The total wages was $2,988,900, besides board, or about 

 $4,180,000, including board. 



