STATUS AND VALUE OF FARM WOODLOTS. 11 



The general rate at which agricultural development took place be- 

 tween 1880 and 1910 is indicated in Table 3, which shows what pro- 

 portion of the total land surface was in farms in each of these years. 

 In New England a marked decrease took place, partly on account of 

 the abandonment of rough, unprofitable farms. There was also a 

 decrease in the Middle Atlantic States, and it is apparent that the 

 States along the coast from Maine to New Jersey, having developed 

 their farming land much earlier than the rest of the country, have 

 tended since 1880 more toward industrial than agricultural develop- 

 ment. Only in New England, however, has the decrease in the pro- 

 portion of the total land surface in farms been accompanied by an 

 increase in the proportion of farm land that is wooded. 



THIRTY YEARS' CHANGE IN WOODLOT AREA. 



The decrease in woodlot area from 1880 to 1890 (nearly 15 per cent) 

 was most rapid in the three divisions which now have the smallest 

 proportion of farm land in woods. This is shown in Table 4, which 

 gives the acreage of woodland x in 1910 and the percentage of increase 

 or decrease since 1880 for each State and division. For the eastern 

 States as a whole, the decrease amounted to 37 per cent in Division 

 I, 39 per cent in Division II, and 18.5 per cent in Division III ; while 

 in Division IV it was only 5.7 per cent, in Division V 0.8 per cent, and 

 in Division VI no decrease at all, but an increase of nearly 19 per 

 cent. In New England there were increases in Divisions III and IV, 

 due chiefly to reforestation of abandoned fields. In the Lake States 

 the great increases which took place in Divisions III, IV, V, and VI 

 were due to the acquisition by settlers of portions of the timberlands 

 in these regions, which, in their new status as farm woodland, are 

 likely to repeat the history of the woodlots in the longer- developed 

 regions. 



1 From the table it is easy to determine for any State or States which division has the 

 most farm land. Thus, for the eastern States as" a whole, and for New England, the 

 South Atlantic, the South Central States, and Missouri, it is Division IV, with from 40 

 to 60 per cent of the farm area in woods. In Iowa it is Division I ; in the Lake States, 

 Division III ; and in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, Division II. 



