Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-03-29
CONSERVATION IN VERMONT
WEALTH IN FOREST LAND.

prepared for the Vermont Commits
sion on the Conservation of Natural Re-
sources.l
Our forests by reason of mis-
management are so rapidly disap-
pearing that any estimate of the wealth
we possess in them today will be valu-
able tomorrow only as the record of con-
ditions already changed. However a
comparison of the condition of our for
ests today with those of 80 years ago,
shows concusively that II we continue
our present method or lack of method
in dealing with them we shall in another
so years have few forests on which to
place a value.
Therefore a question of far greater i'm
portance than the value of Vermont s
forests today is. what her forests are to
be in the future. And this suggests both
the extent and the quality of our future
forests and whether or not the state and
the individual or both are warranted in
attempting to preserve their present and
to increase their future productive pow
er.
There are two ways of increasing pro-
duction: To increase the forest area by
paintings, and to increase the output of
the original area by care in management.
Now, If a man has an acre in potatoes
and wants a big crop would it not be
better policy for him by careful cultiva-
ton to make sure of a good crop on his
first acre rather than to neglect that
acre and plant second? In other
words 1t will pay the farmer to resort to
planting only in cases of waste land
which Us not reproducing itself by nat
ural methods.
Some of the benefits to the state of
good forests are Sources of useful
products, conservation of water pro-
lection against erosion, increased ability
of the soil to hold water, and these ben
efits have been conceded to be of suf-
ficient Importance to warrant the state
in adopting an official policy of forestry
which provides for acquiring and main
tanning state forests and for nstructing
Vermonters in forest management.
Let us then consider the benefits of a
good forest policy to individual owners
If every farmer in the state felt salts
fled that in return for proper manage
ment his forest would assure him a
yearly revenue, how long would it take
him to decide on such a policy? A great
majority of the forests in this state are
in farm woodlots. These woodlots should
supply firewood for the farm and timber
for repairing the buildings, furnish WOOD
or lumber to bring in a little ready mon
ey annually and give winter work to the
farmers team. Any natural woodlot OF
average or reasonable size would, under
proper management. and if not already
too badly injured, make this return tC
the farmer; for our soil is one in which
the reproduction of trees is natural AM
rapid.
The reason so many woodlots do no.
now yield regular dividends is because
they have already been injured by in
discriminate and haphazard cutting. two
instances of extreme abuse have come t
my attention. Ten years ago one lo
had a fair growth of maple and beech
with scattering old growth spruce, Their,
was an underground of suppressed anC
| scrubby hardwoods well sprinkled will
| spruce seedlings. The large hardwood!
and spruce were cut; some of the small
| spruce were cut because they were il
the way and more because the chopper.
thought they were in the way, other!
were taken for pushing roads and tn,
rest for banking houses. Last year thu
| farmer wanted cord wood to SELL HI
| found the scrubs so tangled in net
| work of hardwood sprouts that cutting
was not paying proposition. The in
evitable result is that the land will b.
left idle for 10 or Is years while the in
| ferior trees and the inferior sprouts bat
| tie with each other, and after a lont
period without return. the farmer will
have a poor growth of hardwood. II
this case the much decred ''landskin
| ming of the lumberman would have beef
| preferable, for it would have removed
| the scrub hardwoods or forest weeds ant
| given the sprouts a chance.
| Suppose the farmer, with an eye TO
| reproduction, had begun ten years ag
by cutting the scrub underground to mar
ket as firewood then year by year ha
| felled his hard and soft wood logs wit
care not to disturb the growing spruce
and sold them for profit; he would nov
| have left fair stand of second growt
| spruce which, If properly managed
might continue to yield a yearly revenue
Another instance of mis- management
a Christmas tree dealer persuaded on
farmer to sell all spruce in two pasture
for $500, using the argument that cut
ting would clear and improve his pas
ture. Now in the first place the Ian
was too rough and wild to be fit 70
| pasture, furthermore the trees were Gu
so high that their lower limbs still cove
as much ground as before leaving tn
| land uncleared and the spruce crop ruin
| ed. Twenty thousand trees were shippe
from the two lots. A lumberman VIII
saw them loaded estimated that in :
wears each tree would contain 80 feet c
lumber, a total of 100000 feet. 1 thinl
| after looking the ground over that hal
of the trees might have been killed @
suppressed and that 100000 feet is there
fore a fairer estimate. At present price
the farmers 5000 Christmas trees woul
then be worth $500, a good investmen
might come to the farmer If after sa
| ten years, he took a cash dividend b
wedding out the inferior trees. This
improve thinning: as it gives the large
trees room in which to develop NOR
| rapidly and perfectly.
While the two cases just cited ma
seem to be extreme, | feel satisfied tina
hundreds of woodlots in this state ar
being just as severely damaged eac
year. You will naturally ask what is tn
cure for this unnecessary damage to GU
forests and financial loss to owners wit
consequent business depression to ou
villages during the winter months.
answer that the cure Is to get the peopl
| interested in forestry. How are we I
interest them? The state forester is dc
ing excellent work in this line and W
can help him in many ways.
If one owner in each town would or
crate his woodlot under the directio
of the state forester the town woul
soon become interested in the work; fc
practical demonstration is more cor
vincing. than any amount of discussion
If our schools would give the childre
a knowledge of the products of the fol
est and of the great number of indus
tries dependent on those products, II
younger generation would apprecia
both the value and the necessity
good forests While it is probably in
practicable to introduce compile
course In forestry into our alreat
crowded public school curriculum, v
| should at least after awakening nupil