30 CIRCULAR 661, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ceeded in obtaining Federal Smith-Hughes funds for the employment 
of two foresters as instructors. 
OUTSTANDING NEEDS 
The facts presented regarding the farm woods of the Lake States 
show that, despite their large extent and importance as a source of 
raw materials for both agriculture and forest industry, they con- 
tribute less than 5 percent of farm returns and, because of poor 
treatment, are steadily deteriorating. It is further brought out that 
returns from the farm woods can be increased to profitable propor- 
tions through better utilization and marketing of timber products 
and by building up woodland productivity. The public programs 
that have been outlined on the foregoing pages are making valuable 
contributions more or less directly toward the solution of the farm 
forestry problems of the Lake States. The full effect, especially of 
the more recent undertakings, cannot as yet be weighed. Neverthe- 
less, in relation to the job to be done, present efforts constitute only a 
beginning, and additional steps appear necessary as part of the public 
program for farm forestry. These include: (1) Increased and inten- 
sified educational effort, including technical service aids, to acquaint 
farmers with the value of farm woods as a source of raw materials 
for use and for sale; (2) achievement of better farm woods manage- 
ment and timber utilization and marketing, especially through farm- 
ers’ cooperative efforts; (3) effective public regulation to eliminate 
woodland practices injurious to the forest resources or endangering 
the welfare of neighbors and of the community in general; (4) addi- 
tional research designed to obtain basic facts specifically related to 
farm forestry. 
Until woodland owners are provided with expert technical advice 
and assistance on the ground, public efforts in farm forestry cannot 
be fully effective. To give farm forestry a concrete and practical 
direction, there must be available trained personnel having a farm- 
management point of view, who will work on a year-round basis in 
the farm-woods communities, helping farmers and cooperative organi- 
zations of farmers with their forest problems. 
Relatively few farmers have adequate understanding of the greatly 
increased profits they can obtain from farm-woodland crops, or of 
the specific practices and procedures by which they can obtain such 
returns. In the few localities served by foresters employed in farm 
programs, such as in the recently initiated farm forestry demonstra- 
tion projects and some of the soil conservation districts, cooperating 
farmers are benefiting greatly from the technical service provided 
them in the managing of their woodlands and the harvesting, utiliza- 
tion, and marketing of woodland products. 
As a buttress for this program of education, a program of 
public regulation should be aimed at speeding up the transition 
from waste and neglect of the woodland resource to positive manage- 
ment for continuous productivity. Direct and positive public action 
is needed to provide all farm-forest lands with adequate protection 
against injurious practices and to keep these lands reasonably pro- 
ductive. ‘To this end the Forest Service has proposed that the States 
be afforded the opportunity to undertake the necessary regulation 
with Federal financial assistance, but with the reservation that the 
