Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1915-06-17

There are. scattered over the State
of Maryland, l,475,OOO acres OF
forest land, included in woodlots.
which constitute, in certain sections,
a most important portion of the
farm itself. In the aggregate the
farm woodlot in MARYLAND repre-
sents exactly "a per cent of the
States entire wooded area, an aver
age of 30 acres 20 every farm. Any
methods of Statewide forest man.
agement which fail to properly con-
slider the woodland owned by farm
ers in plans for protection, better
management and care must, in
Maryland ut least, fall far short of
the results desired. Approaching
this, the State Board of Forestry,
since its organization eight years
ago, has been attempting in various
ways TO get more closely in touch
with the local landowners, with the
objects of improving their present
stands of timber, the planning and
laying out of new ones, and the dis
pOsal of the wood or lumber which
the farmers have from time to time
To put upon the market.
Upon application from any owner
OF woodland in this State, the State
Forester or an assistant will go over
the ground carefully with the owner
or his representative, devising a
plan of management which is there
discussed and later submitted in full
as written report. For this there
Is no charge other than the travel
ing expenses of the Forester. Dur
ing the last half year there have
been examined in this way LILO
acres of forest land; woodlot Im-
provement work and timber marking
have already been completed on 79I
acres of this. Results have justified
the very slight expense involved.
On the 4th of last October the
State Forester made a preliminary
examination of 27O-acre tract of
woodland forming a part of a large
farm at Sotterley, st. Mary's coun-
ty. The work to be done was then
decided upon, and the following
month an Assistant Forester with two
helpers, again thoroughly covered
the woodland, estimating, tailying
and marking all ripe, over-mature
and diseased trees, as well as those
of worthless species which were
growing there. This work was
necessary if the mans woodlot were
to be placed on producing and
better paying basis. The work re-
quired four days-frOm the 18th to
the 23rd of November. The help
ers were supplied by the owner,
though men with the necessary ex-
perience in this work may also be
furnished by the State Forester's
Office at a charge of $500 per day
subsistence. For the man in charge
of the work the charge is $500 per
day and expenses, and with the en-
tire crew made mp of men accustom-
ed TO this kind of work it is posi-
BILE to get over more ground with
better results than is the case with
labor only secured for the job.
The total expense to the owner
was $s0.s2, and represented the
cost of labor, travel and subsistence
for the men employed, small sum
to invest for the protection and inn
provement of wood and timber
worth several thousand dollars.
Nearly seventy acres of woodland
were covered daily and 4,575 trees
were marked for cutting, the total
amount OF timber so marked and es-
timated giving total of 200 cords
of pine wood and $50, 900 feet board
measure of hardwood timber. The
data collected in the field was later
worked mp at no expense To the
owner in the Office of the Forester,
the information furnished him. in
GLIDING a list of his marked trees by
species and inch diameter classes,
with the amount of saw timber and
other forest products, and their
market value. From this q brief |
statement was prepared, covering |