provided the stimulus and 
funding for rapid expansion 
of State nurseries and 
increases in tree planting in 
all the Southern States. The 
conservation reserve feature 
of the act was designed to 
retire marginal lands from 
farming in order to reduce 
crop production and 
agricultural crop surpluses. 
The act provided the authority 
for the Secretary of 
Agriculture to contract with 
farmers to place cropland 
acres into the reserve for 
fixed periods of time. 
Landowners who agreed to 
plant trees usually contracted 
for a 10-year period. Owners 
received financial assistance 
for planting and an annual 
payment for the contract 
period to assure that the 
land would be kept in tree 
cover. That way, Owners 
took in some annual income 
from the acreage to bridge 
the time until the plantations 
were ready for thinning. 
Nursery production was 
doubled in several States to 
meet the program needs. 
Soil Bank funds were 
provided directly to the States 
in fiscal years 1957 and 
1958 to build new nurseries, 
expand old ones, modernize 
existing nurseries, and build 
facilities for the drying of 
cones and the extraction 
and processing of seed. 
Permanent cold-storage 
facilities were built for seed 
storage, and the USDA Forest 
Service, in cooperation with 
the Georgia Forestry 
Commission, expanded its 
seed testing program and 
built a new laboratory. That 
laboratory at the Georgia 
Forestry Center now provides 
seed testing service for the 
entire Nation. Besides 
providing construction funds, 
the Soil Bank Program also 
gave money to the States to 
assist landowners with 
technical help in tree planting. 
The 1,918,564 acres reported 
as planted under the Soil 
Bank Program was the largest 
short-term effort seen in the 
South.? Those plantations 
are now contributing large 
volumes of wood. 
The success of the Soil Bank 
Program is widely recognized 
and often cited in arguments 
for incentive programs for 
reforestation. A similar 
program is included in the 
Food Security Act of 1985 
(the Farm Bill). 
2 Data provided by USDA Forest 
Service. 
a7, 
