FORESTRY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. 7 



better transportation facilities. Not infrequently these various fac- 

 tors, either singly or in combination, are just enough to make the 

 difference between success and failure for the individual farmer. 

 Certain it is that where large areas of forest lands are interspersed 

 with smaller areas potentially valuable for agriculture, the manage- 

 ment of the forest lands on the basis of a sustained annual yield may 

 be absolutely necessary for the development of the agricultural lands, 

 and in any event will make their utilization more profitable. 



Unfortunately, forest exploitation in the past has been such as to 

 make this ideal conspicuous by its absence. Under the individualis- 

 tic economic system of the past there has been an irresistible pres- 

 sure on the majority of private owners to cut clear and then abandon 

 their land. The result has been lack of permanence not only in 

 wood-using industries but in many regions in farming also. How- 

 ever desirable the clearing of the forest may have been in regions 

 chiefly valuable for cultivation, in regions where forest lands pre- 

 dominate it has in the long run hindered rather than helped agri- 

 culture. 



In Pennsylvania, for example, during the decade from 1900 to 1910, 

 a period of rising prices for farm products, the number of farms 

 decreased nearly 5,000. At the same time the area of land in farms 

 decreased more than 780,000 acres, and the area of improved land in 

 farms more than 530,000 acres. While the total population of the 

 State was increasing 21.6 per cent, the number of farms decreased 

 2.2 per cent and the acreage of total farm land 4.1 per cent. The lure 

 of the city and the development of better lands elsewhere may par- 

 tially explain these facts. It is significant, however, that deserted 

 farms are a common sight in the once timbered mountains, and that 

 their abandonment has followed the departure of the lumber indus- 

 try. With the passing of the local market and the opportunities for 

 outside employment, their owners found farming a precarious busi- 

 ness. 



It is entirely possible, furthermore, to go to an extreme in the 

 deforestation of all lands that are suitable for agriculture and that 

 eventually should be cleared and cultivated. There is no advantage 

 in removing the forests and abandoning such lands before they actu- 

 ally can be put to use. Under present conditions, however, this 

 course is by no means uncommon. In Wisconsin, for instance, the 

 State Agricultural College estimates that there are now 10,000,000 

 acres of cut-over lands, of which three -fourths may be agricultural. 

 At the present rate of improvement, however — 50,000 acres annu- 

 ally—it will be 150 years before this entire area is brought under 

 cultivation. In other words, if the land had been maintained in 

 forest it would be possible to raise from one to three timber crops on 



