FARM FORESTRY IN THE LAKE STATES 7 
the prairie in the south are stands of oak, maple, and basswood; in 
the north are scattered groves of scrubby aspen and oak. The natural 
farm woods contain 523 million board feet of saw timber, an average 
ot 594 board feet per acre of woodland. 
TABLE 2.— Average farm-woodland areas and farm-timber volumes of the Lake 
States, uf get a belt 
Average | 
Farms | woodland | Saw-timber volume | Cordwood volume 
area 
Geographic belt S z S = S 
=| =) a 3 | L n ° g 2 n 
eee ee ee ee eee! oe ee 
= S aoe ewe ee SA rats |) 228 ai |S 
a | = a | a = aw A ea |e |e 
| Million | | Mil- | 
Num- | Num- | board | Board |Board) lion 
ber | ber |Acres|Acres| feet ect feet | cords |Cords | Cords 
Nester prairies = meen 91, 363 | 30,500 | 10 29 523 ,000 | 594 3 | 98 3.4 
Southern woodland____________ 377, 944 |300, 500 | | 22 27 | 8,600 29 000 1, 052 49 | 163 6.0 
INoriherniorest= se 130, 389 (125, 000 46} 48} 4,628 | 37,000} 771 30 | 240 5.0 
AN RE Bie er se ee 599, 696 |456, 000 | 25 33 | 13, 751 | 30, 000 913 | 82 | 180 5.4 
Planted farm shelterbelts in this prairie belt cover a total area 
of some 86,000 acres, 7 out of 10 farms on the prairie having forest 
plantations of some kind. The shelterbelt trees are mainly ~cotton- 
wood, boxelder, and green ash. Most of the plantations were estab- 
lished during the period of heavy settlement between 1880 and 1900 
and are now decadent as a result of old age, lack of renewal, and the 
severe droughts of recent years. 
The large farms in the prairie belt are devoted mainly to beef- 
cattle and general livestock production, dairying, and cash-grain 
farming. The farm-woods problem is chiefly a matter of providing 
domestic timber needs and protecting farmsteads and fields from 
unfavorable climatic conditions; the farm forests have low commercial 
possibilities. 
SOUTHERN WoopLaND BELT 
The southern woodland belt includes the Mississippi Valley district 
of Minnesota, the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin, and the southern 
half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a gross land area 
of about 49 million acres. Characteristically, the farms of this belt 
were hewn out of virgin forest before or during the period of 
lumbering in the Lake States, largely between 1820 and 1900, and 
the woods on them are remnants of the original timber. The southern 
belt contains 11 million acres of forest land, of which 8 million acres 
is in farm ownership. About two-thirds of the farm woodland is 
stocked with hardwood timber, chiefly maple, basswood, oak, and 
elm. Much of the remainder at present supports no forest stand, 
but only brush or sparsely scattered trees. The farm woods have a 
sawlog volume of 8.6 billion board feet. The typical farm woodland 
of 27 acres thus contains 29,000 board feet of timber—an average 
stocking of 1,052 board feet per acre. 
