8 SELLING WOODLOT PRODUCTS ON MICHIGAN FARMS. 



In spite of this evident importance to the State, woodlots are being 

 cleared at a rate which would threaten their virtual extinction if co^ 

 tinued for the next half century. In the 30 years between 1880 and l^^Jf 

 the decrease was over 1% million acres, or at a rate of more than 1 

 per cent per year, so that while in 1880 the average area of woodland on 

 each farm was about 29 acres, in 1910 it was only 14 acres. This process 

 of clearing was inevitable and perfectly natural wherever it opened up 

 good tillable soils for cultivation. On poorer soils financial necessity 

 often compelled farmers to cut their timber. There has, in fact, been 

 little or no inducement to hold salable timber or even to protect and 

 care for young growth for the uncertain value it might have 40 or 50 

 ;f ears in the future. 



The only efficient means of stemming the tide of forest destruction 

 seems to be organized community or State effort directed toward pro- 

 moting the private holding of woodlots on poor lands by equitable tax 

 laws or to establishing community or State forests by the purchase of 

 existing woodlots or of land which should be in woods. The State is 

 already providing for future forest growth through the holding of lands 

 which have reverted for taxes. It is probable that a more general appreci- 

 ation of the value of woodlots on.poorer soils would go a long way toward 

 perpetuating them. The best way of bringing this home to the farmers 

 is to give them the information necessary to get the highest returns from 

 their salable wood products. 



THE COMMON WOODLOT TREEB. 



In general, oaks and pines are the commonest species in woodlots on 

 dry, sandy soils. The pines — white, Norway, and jack, — are unim- 

 portant or entirely lacking south of an east and west line drawn through 

 about the middle of the lower peninsula. The. oaks are most important 

 south of this line, though some small species grow abundantly on sandy 

 lands to the north of it. On heavier or moister soils throughout the 

 State, maples, birches, elms, and basswood, and, in the north, hemlock 

 are the species which predominate in the majority of the woodlots. In 

 the swamps, tamarack is found throughout the State, while arborvitae 

 (white cedar) and a little black spruce occur in the North. On cut-over 

 and burned lands in the North, aspen and sometimes paper birch often 

 form dense thickets, usually too small to be of any immediate value, but 

 sometimes big enough to supply excelsior stock, box lumber, etc. 



These are tie prevailing species, but there are others which, though 

 less abundant, may be much more valuable, among them white ash, black 

 walnut, butternut, hickory, and (very sparingly in the South) yellow 

 poplar. Merchantable trees of these species are becoming very scarce. 

 They are eagerly sought out by buyers for special industries; and the 

 farmer who owns good trees may, in prosperous times, expect good 

 prices for them, even when at a considerable distance from the point 

 utilization. 



MARKETING WOODLOT PRODUCTS. 



The woodlot owner should not allow valuable trees to deteriorate on 

 his hands, but he should fully satisfy himself that the deterioration has 

 actually started before accepting a low bid for the timber. Even if 

 signs of damage are found it should be remembered that timber does not 



