16 BULLETIN 1491, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ern part, has been classed by the Missouri Soil Survey 3 as suitable 
only for timberland or woodland pasture, and in one county only 
10 per cent of the land is regarded as arable. In Illinois the State 
Soil Survey 4 has classified 6,000,000 acres of land as suitable only 
for pasture or forest. 
These hilly counties are already supporting a woods growth over 
a large part of their area and the indications are that, for the pres- 
ent at least, wood is the best crop to grow. Some large areas of 
this hill land are owned by tie operators, lumber companies, and 
mining companies, some of whom have worked the land over for tim- 
ber several times. Not much is being sold for agriculture, princi- 
pally because there is no demand for it. If not disposed of quickly 
after the forest is cut off, it comes back to a young growth of timber 
or brush which makes it unattractive to any prospective farmer. 
Apparently a good many million acres of this type of land is better 
suited for timber than for any other crop and will continue in forest. 
FARM WOODS FIT INTO PLAN OF FARM MANAGEMENT 
A farm woods has a definite place in the management of every 
farm except perhaps the farm of small acreage devoted to truck 
crops. Valuable hardwood species are numerous throughout the 
region. They possess excellent qualities for a wide variety of pur- 
poses, and they are growing increasingly valuable and finding a 
ready market. The value of timber on the stump has on the aver- 
age doubled in the last 12 or 15 years, and it seems likely that this 
increase in value, at least for timber of high quality, will continue. 
These facts will favor the continued growing of timber in the farm 
woods of this region. 
Every farm owner has need during the vear for material that 
can be grown in his farm woods, whether it be fuel wood, posts, 
hewn timbers, or lumber for repairing or building a shed or house. 
Census figures for 1919 covering the entire area of all the States of 
this region show 733,116 farms reporting forest products valued 
at $72,667,357 used or cut and held for use on the farm. This aver- 
ages $99 worth to the farm. The farmer also often finds the need 
of selling timber products for ready cash. In 1919, 215,417 farms 
sold or cut and held for sale forest products valued at $66,446,128, 
an average of $308 to the farm. Fuel wood is alsoi an important 
item on the farm. Where wood is the only fuel burned, 15 to 25 
cords are needed annually for the average comfortably maintained 
farmhouse. If purchased, this would cost $5 or more a cord. 
The number of wooden posts used each year varies, of course, with 
the number of rods of fencing and the kinds of wood available. For 
the district covered by this report Osage orange posts have been 
known to last 35 years or more ; black locust, red mulberry, and red 
cedar, 25 years and often longer ; catalpa, 15 to 20 years ; northern white 
cedar, 12 to 15 years ; the white oaks, 10 to 12 years ; the ashes, maples, 
8 Missouri State Board of Agriculture. 53d annual report (1921), pp. 275, 337, 
401, 429, 430. 
Missouri State Board of Agriculture. 56th annual report (1924), pp. 196, 418. 
4 Chapman, Herman H., and Miller, Robert B. second report on a forest survey 
OF ILLINOIS. THE ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY IN THE STATE. State of 111. Nat. HiSt. SurV. 
Bul., Vol. XV, Article III, pp. 122 and 123. 1924. 
