FORESTRY COMMISSION. 47 



should be done for the higher hiuds. .Vll the rain and snow that may fall 

 upon the lands adjacent is soon carried into the creeks and streams, and 

 with the water a large portion of the fei-tility of tlie soil is washed away. 

 Oullies are formed, and the result is an unsightly hillside and a deprecia- 

 tion in values of surrounding property. 



WOODLOT FOEEkSTRY. 



r.Y DR. .Tl'DSOX F. CLARK, BUREAU OP FORESTRY, WASHINGTON^ D. C. 



The discovery of the silvicultural characteristics of our American forest 

 trees, together with the dissemination of this knowledge among the owners 

 of woodlands for practical purposes, has long been the most important 

 feature of the work oi the National Bureau of Forestry. During the last 

 live years a special effort has been made to reach and solve the problems 

 of the farmer. This effort has been induced because of a general lack of 

 information on the part of the farmers in the management of woodlands 

 and the increasing importance of the product of the woodlot. 



Few appreciate the importance of the farmer's Avoodlot in the national 

 economy. To emphasize this point, I shall quote a few statistics from the 

 twelfth census (1900). The average farm in the United States contains 

 1(7 acres, of which 72 are recorded as "improved" and 74 "unimproved.'' 

 This "unimproved'' area of American farms foots up the enormous total of 

 426,000,000 acres. The unimproved areas consist of woodlands, treeless 

 swamps and barren lands. A very conservative estimate of the amount 

 of unimproved lands in the Uniled States capable of producing timber in 

 300,000,000 acres. A vast empire of actual and potential woodlots! The 

 value of the total product of the lumber camps of the United States (in- 

 cluding logs, bark for tanning, charcoal, rived shingles, ships' knees, posts, 

 ties and all other products of the lumber cami)) was, in 1899, $174,000,000. 

 The value of the product of the woodlots of the United States (including 

 "only the wood, lumber, ties, etc., which the farmers cut in connection 

 with their ordinary farming operations",) and not including maple syrup 

 or sugar, was |110,000,000. In other words, in 1899, the farmers' wood- 

 lots of the country produced an amount very nearly equal to two-thirds 

 of the value of the product of the regular lumber industry as it was de- 

 livered at the mills. 



Not only is the present product of the woodlot of very gi-eat economic 

 importance, but it will certainly be increasingly so as the natural sup- 

 plies of virgin timber disappear. The fellowing statistics from the twelfth 

 census illustrate the increasing importance of the woodlot as development 

 progresses in the different States : 



