14 BULLETIN 863, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



important kinds of trees in each area. Locate the great lumber 

 regions of the United States. From what ports are forest products 

 of the United States exported? 



Arithmetic: Construct problems in which the prices of timber 

 products are used. Use, if possible, the value of the forest products, 

 the price of timber land, and prices of the miscellaneous forest 

 products. 



Language : Make a study of the forest products of the district and 

 write a report of your study. Another report of value will be that 

 on the forest products that are imported into the district. 



Lesson V. USING FARM TIMBER 



Problem. — To discover the right uses of farm timber. 



Sources of information. — Farmers' Bulletins 516, 744, 1023, 1071, 

 1117, 1177, and 1210; Department Bulletins 718 and 753; Forestry 

 Bulletins 80 and 144; publications of State foresters and colleges of 

 agriculture. 



Illustrative material.— Again a field trip will furnish the best illus- 

 trative material for this lesson. Note the height of the stumps 

 where timber has been cut, the careless felling of trees causing the 

 injuring of young trees, the tops and large limbs left in the forest. 

 In the absence of a field trip, pictures may be shown illustrating the 

 points mentioned above. 



Topics for study. — The right using of timber on the farm should 

 begin at the time the tree is cut. Waste of good timber in the 

 woods is altogether too common nowadays, when wood is high-priced 

 and getting scarcer. 



High stumps mean usually that the best quality of the timber in 

 the tree is wasted. Often the value of the timber left in high stumps 

 is sufficient to pay for all the costs of logging. Saw logs can now 

 be taken profitably from the tops which had to be left only a few 

 years ago. Wherever possible the tops should be worked up into 

 crossties, mine props, or firewood. By careless felling of trees much 

 promising young timber is broken and destroyed. 



High grade and valuable timber should not be used in places about 

 the farm where less valuable woods will answer the purpose. Some- 

 times choice, white oak worth $40 a thousand feet in the log for 

 veneers is split up into fence posts, or black walnut used for farm 

 gates because it won't split. Substitutes can be found by children 

 upon inquiry from their parents or neighbors. 



Small and young timber cut in making improvement thinnings in 

 overcrowded stands can often be sold or used on the farm for posts, 

 poles, or firewood, instead of being allowed to decay in the woods. 



Treating of fence posts: Short-lived woods when soaked in hot and 

 then cold creosote last from 10 to 20 years as fence posts. As the 

 supply of long-lived woods, such as black locust, osage orange, red 

 cedar, chestnut, mulberry, and catalpa become scarce, treated fence 

 posts are being increasingly used. Almost all farms have some com- 

 mon woods growing, practically all of which take coal-tar creosote 

 readily. 



Practical exercises.— hi a field trip to the farm forests note what 

 care is taken in felling trees, the disposition of limbs and tops, and 

 the height of the stumps. What examples may be found where an 



