GOVERNMENT NEGLECT OF FORESTRY, 



59 



tual than the French plan of freeing timber land 

 from taxation until it has begun to be profitable : — 

 Circular No. 21. 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 

 OF AGRICULTURE. 



Division of Forestry. 



PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE TO FARMERS, LUMBERMEN, 

 AND OTHERS IN MANAGING FOREST LANDS. 



The forest lands of the United States are owned 

 in three separate ways : First, by the Government 

 of the United States, to which belong the reserved 

 and unreserved forests of the public land States ; 

 second, by some of the States ; and, third, by pri- 

 vate owners, among whom are individual men, com- 

 panies, and institutions. 



The private forest lands exceed in area those of 

 the United States and the Federal Governments com- 

 bined, and their preservation in productive condi- 

 tion, as regards both timber and water supply, is of 

 vast importance to the nation. As a rule, however, 

 the treatment they receive is calculated to destroy 

 their value rather than to sustain or increase it. 

 The reason is evident and natural. These lands, 

 like other private property, are held by their owners 

 for the returns they yield, and the owners as yet 

 have scarcely begun to understand that it pays better, 

 as a rule, to protect a forest in harvesting the timber 

 crop than to destroy it. A knowledge of how to 

 bring about this desirable result is still more re- 

 stricted, while trained men capable of advising forest 

 owners in the matter are very few indeed. 



Examples of Improved Methods. — For these reasons 

 the Division of Forestry has undertaken to provide 

 a series of examples of improved treatment of pri- 

 vate forest lands, in which the present interest of 

 the owner and the protection and improvement of 

 the forest shall have equal weight. The object of the 

 present undertaking is to show that improved ways 

 of managing timber lands are best for the owner as 

 well as for the forest, by assisting a few owners to 

 make trial of them, and then publishing the results 

 for the benefit of all. 



Government Co-operation with Forest Owners. — 

 Forest lands in private ownership are mainly of two 

 kinds — small holdings, for the most part farmers' 

 wood lots, and larger areas, chiefly valuable for tim- 

 ber. This Division is prepared, so far as its appro- 

 priation will permit, to lend its aid to the owners 

 of each kind, on receipt of applications stating the 

 situation, area, and character of the forests for which 

 working plans are desired. Applications will be con- 

 sidered in the order in which they are received, but 

 precedence may be given to the lands most likely 

 to furnish useful examples. A working plan once 

 prepared will not be put in effect unless it is satis- 

 factory to the Division of Forestry and to the owner. 

 The conditions upon which the Division will under- 



take necessary investigations and give assistance are 

 stated in the two following agreements. Tracts of 

 any size, from five acres up, are eligible. The only 

 distinction made is that the owners of large tracts, 

 which may present more difficult questions, will be 

 required to share in the expense of solving them, 

 while owners of small tracts will receive assistance 

 from the Division without bearing any part of the 

 cost. 



Wood Lots. — Throughout a very large portion 

 of the United States every farm has a certain part 

 of its area under wood, either planted, as in regions 

 otherwise treeless, or of natural growth. The value 

 of this wooded portion, besides protection from the 

 wind, is chiefly for fuel, fencing, and railroad ties, 

 with some building material and the wood needed 

 for uses about the farm. Without the wood lot a 

 farm very often would be an unprofitable invest- 

 ment, because the farmer could not afford to buy 

 the wood which now costs him very little except 

 labour. Indeed, in very many cases, the wood lot 

 keeps the farmer going. His labour there during 

 the winter, when otherwise he would be idle, makes 

 up for any deficit in the cultivated land, and the 

 ready money he receives from the sale of fuel, ties, 

 or other material, is indispensable to his comfort 

 and prosperity. In two directions, then, material and 

 money, the product of his wood lot is of high im- 

 portance to the farmer. But in the majority of cases 

 this part of the farm is far less useful than it might 

 easily be made. This is true because the farmer 

 does not study its productive capacity as he does 

 that of his fields and pastures, and hence does not 

 make it yield as freely as he might, with little addi- 

 tional labour, if he went about it in the right way. 



The following memorandum agreement gives 

 the terms on which the owners of small tracts of 

 forest may co-operate with the Division : — 



WOOD LOT AGREEMENT. 



Washington, D.C., September 1, 1898. 



The Department of Agriculture of the United States 

 and John Doe of Doeville, County of Bell, State of 

 Pennsylvania, mutually agree together as follows : 



1. The Department of Agriculture, in pursuance of 

 investigations in forestry, and in order to disseminate a 

 knowledge of improved ways of handling forest lands, 

 shall, after personal study on the ground by its agent or 

 agents, prep are a plan for harvesting the forest crop and 

 reproducing the forest on the land of the said John Doe 

 situated and described as follows : 1 00 acres, more or 

 less, of second-growth hardwood forest land, in the town 

 of Doeville, County of Pike, State of Pennsylvania, on 

 the farm blown commonly as the Old Doe Place, and in 

 the north-west portion of the same. 



1. The said plan shall be prepared for the purpose 

 of promoting and increasing the Present value and use- 



