The total value of farm products sold, traded, or 
used by operators’ families amounted to 144 mil- 
lion dollars during 1929. The value of field and 
orchard crops made up approximately half this 
total, dairy products nearly a quarter, and poultry 
and eggs about a quarter. The principal field and 
orchard crops produced were vegetables, berries, 
apples, cherries, prunes, walnuts, hay, and grain. 
During 1929, sales of farm-forest products brought 
in nearly 3 million dollars and, in addition, 2} 
million dollars’ worth of fuel wood, fence posts, 
and other forest products were used on the farms 
where they originated. 
Trends in Agricultural Land Use 
From present indications agricultural use of 
land has about reached a condition of equilibrium. 
Relation of present to past conditions is indicated 
by the 1880-1935 Census Bureau data (table 27) 
for total acreage in farms, number of farms, 
average size of farms, acreage of improved land in 
farms, and acreage of farm woods. 
Between 1880 and 1900 farm acreage increased 
sharply, but for 25 years thereafter the increase was 
slight. 
gradual, and came mainly after 1920. The rise in 
Increase in acreage of farm woods was more 
improved land in farms has been slow and fairly 
steady since 1900. Between 1880 and 1935. the 
number of farms increased fivefold and average 
size of farm decreased by more than two-thirds. 
In the early days of agriculture large farms were 
the rule and cereals were the principal crops. As 
population increased and transportation facilities 
improved, many of the large farms were divided. 
Grain became less profitable as a crop as land 
values rose above those in eastern Oregon and 
Washington, and farming became more intensive 
and varied. 
There are now few blocks of forest land as large 
as 10,000 acres in the whole region—whether virgin 
timber, second growth, or cut-over—that could 
successfully be converted to agriculture, and what 
potential agricultural land there is lies mainly in 
Washington, in Lewis, Grays Harbor, Pacific, 
western Clallam, and western Jefferson counties." 
13 In studying possible future conversion of forest land to 
farm, the forest-survey staff received valuable assistance 
from agricultural experiment station staff members and 
county agents of both States. 
Burrier (3) states that the principal areas in western 
Oregon suitable for new or more intensive farming 
are the Willamette Valley and tidelands and wet 
areas along the Columbia and coastal streams. It 
has been estimated that drainage would be profita- 
ble at this time on 250,000 to 500,000 acres in the 
Willamette Valley, and preliminary investigations 
indicate that irrigation could profitably be ex- 
tended to about 500,000 acres in the valley. Bur- 
rier predicts that from 500,000 to 750,000 acres of 
undeveloped land in western Oregon will eventu- 
ally be cleared, about half being bottom and valley- 
floor lands. A large part of this area is stump 
pasture or idle forest land, and clearing it will not 
materially reduce forest crop production. 
From present indications there will be little 
change in the acreage of cultivated land during the 
next two or three decades. Doubtless some forest 
land will be cleared and some cleared land now in 
agricultural use will revert to forest, but the net 
change will probably be small. Very little of the 
remaining uncleared forest land would produce 
sufficient agricultural income to justify the $100 to 
What little 
forest land is cleared will usually be parts of ex- 
$250 per acre required to clear it. 
isting farmholds. 
Relation of Agriculture to Forests 
The forest is an integral part of the farm economy 
of this region. Not only do the forests furnish fuel, 
fence posts, and other products essential to farm 
management and rural life and a cash crop im- 
portant in farm economy, but forest industries also 
afford part-time employment to many farmers. 
Communities supported by forest industries are 
important markets, and in some cases the only 
markets, for local farm produce. Taxation of for- 
ests and forest industries helps to build and main- 
tain roads, schools, and other public facilities used 
chiefly by the rural population. 
Of the nearly 3 million acres of woodland in farm 
ownership in this region in 1934 (table 27), more 
than two-thirds was grazed. Results of the forest 
survey indicate that of the total area classed as 
woodland pasture more than a million acres is so 
lightly grazed that it is primarily forest land and 
the remainder is stump land with little forest growth 
The area of actual farm woods in the region ap- 
