STATUS AND VALUE OF FARM WOODLOTS. 



35 



there are many other products for special uses and emergencies which 

 the woodlot supplies. Substitutes for wood are, of course, coming 

 more and more into use. Bail fences have long been displaced in 

 general use by wire fencing, and steel and cement fence posts are 

 growing in favor in many regions. Coal is used for fuel, and con- 

 crete for construction. In general, however, the woodlot products 

 have the advantage of cheapness and ready availability. The wood- 

 lot thus has a "convenience value" apart from its intrinsic value. 



Firewood. — The largest "home use" of the woodlot is for fire- 

 wood. In a study by the Office of Farm Management, 1 U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, of the ways in which the farm contributes 

 to the farmer's living, the average amounts and values of wood and 

 coal used on farms for fuel were determined for various States. The 

 averages were based on satisfactory records obtained from 483 

 families visited, distributed fairly evenly through 10 areas in as 

 many States, representative of the kind of agriculture practiced in 

 the regions. For those of the 10 States covered which fall within 

 the scope of the present bulletin the average amounts and values 

 were as shown in Table 11. 



Table 11. — Average annual consumption of coal and wood on farms in eight 

 States, with the proportion of ivood bought and the proportion furnished by 

 the farm. 1 



[The amount of wood is expressed in the standard cord; that is, the amount contained in a pile 8 feet long 

 by 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. This is equivalent to 3 cords of "stove-wood" (16-inch lengths).] 



State and county. 



Coal. 



Per family 



Tons. Value. 



Wood. 



Per family, 



Cords. Value 



Per person. 



Cords. Value. 



Bought. 



Per cent. 



Furnished 

 by larm. 



Per cent. 



Vermont (Lamoille) 



New York (Otsego) 



Pennsylvania (Bucks) . . 



Ohio (Champaign) 



Wisconsin (Jefferson) . . . 



Iowa (Montgomery) 



North Carolina (Gaston) 

 Georgia (Troup) 



0.1 

 2.5 

 4.9 

 5.7 

 3.0 

 3.9 



$1.01 

 16.00 

 26.90 

 23.70 

 20.70 

 29.57 



14.3 

 12.3 

 6.2 

 12.0 



7.5 

 4.8 

 14.0 

 17.8 



$65. 40 

 54.80 

 19.00 

 32. 50 

 38.80 

 22.40 

 43.58 

 51.60 



3.0 



3.1 

 1.2 

 2.9 

 1.1 

 1.7 

 3.1 

 3.3 



$13. 62 

 13.70 

 3.65 

 7.93 

 5.34 

 8.82 

 9.68 

 9.56 



3.0 



1.8 

 5.8 

 6.2 



7.7 



3.9 



97.0 

 98.2 

 94.2 

 93.8 

 92.3 



100 

 96.1 



100 



Average. 



14.74 



11.1 



9.04 



3.55 



3.45 



i From Farmers^ Bulletin 635, "What the Farm Contributes JHrectly to tho Farmer's Living, 

 'unk. See al 

 Use of House, 



by W. C. 



Funk. See also Department of Agriculture Bulletin 410, "Value to Farm Families of Food, Fuel, and 

 "by W. C. Funk. 



Though the number of farms which supplied the data was not 

 large, the fact that they were taken at random lends value to the 

 table as an indication of the usefulness of the woodlot for fuel not 

 only in these States but in the other Eastern States also. A great 

 many farmers use coal for fuel, but there are probably very few 



1 Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 635, 

 Directly to the Farmer's Living," by W. C. Funk, 



What the Farm Contributes 



