The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-07-28
SAYS THE FARMER
RELIES ON FORESTS
FOREST SERVICE ARTICLE AS.
SERTs DESTRUCTION OF
WOODS MEANS LOSS OF
LOCAL MARKETS.

natural resource permanent forests
managed with a view to sustained
timber production are absolutely es-
sential to the continuance of agri
culture, according to an article in
the Year Book of the Department Of
Agriculture just published. The
result of exploiting the timber with
out thought of the future is the
final disappearance of numbering
operations and therefore the with
drawal of an important local market
for farm products. In addition, for
est fires ofte ravage the cut-over
lands and thus preclude the develop
ment of a new local market by the
resumption of numbering; for after
fire there is no chance for new
crop of trees.
From a region where productive
timberland has been converted into
b barren waste, the farmers usually
have to move out. There are parts
Of the United States in which culti-
walton of the soil has ended with the
cessation of local numbering, or at
least shortly ~afterward, because with
the withdrawal of The woods-workers
went the farmers market for5meats,
vegetables, hay, and grain. There
are other regions where the stability
of local agriculture is absolutely
bound up with forest protection.
This is strikingly true in parts Of the
Appalachian mountains of the East;
it is no less true in many OF the ma
Itional forest regions of the West.
A few years ago, continues the ar
ticle, more than a hundred farmers
in Montana petitioned against the
then proposed elimination of their
section from the Kootenai National
Forest. Its elimination they knew
from the history of adjacent land
outside the forest, would mean that
it would at once be taken up by TIM
Der spectators and lumber coinpan-
les to be held for years without de-
%velopment. They knew also that IL
this came about, neighbors could not
be obtained or roads and schools be
developed in the county as rapidlyIas.
if the land remained under govern
ment control, by which the portions
really more suitable for agriculture
than for forest purposes would In
time be entered by permanent set
tiers under the Forest Homestead
Act.
In 1911, an association Of Co1ora.S
do farmers, who irrigated their farms
with water from the North Platte
River, sent an urgent request to the:
government to restrict timber cut
ting on the North Platte watershed,
so that, as far as possible, high
spring freshets could be prevented!
and o water made available for
irrigation during the summer months
when the crops were most in need.
They said that they relied upon the
national forest, within which the
watershed lay, to ensure a steady
flow of water for their crops.
The national forests, says the ar
ticle, besides being the American
farmers most valuable source iof
wood, which is the chief building ma
terial for rural purposes, T also
his most valuable source of water
both for irrigation and domestic use.
In the West, they afford him a pro-
tracted grazing range for his stock;
they are the best insurance against
flood damage to his fields, his build
ings, his bridges, his roads, and the
fertility of his soil. The national
forests cover the higher portions of
the Rocky Mountain ranges, the
Cascades, the Pacific Coast ranges,
and a large part of the forested coast
and islands of Alaska; some of the
nilly regions in Montana and in the
Dakotas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas,
and limited areas in Minnesota
Michigan, Florida and Porto Rico.
In addition, land is now being pur-
chased for national forests in the
White Mountains of New England
and in the southern Appalachians. In
regions so widely scattered, agricul-
tural and forest conditions necessari-
ly differ to a great degree, bringing
about corresponding differences in
the effect of the national localities.
Wherever agriculture can be prac-
ticed, however, the farmer is directly
benefited by the existence of national
forests and by their proper manage
ment.
err IVAN cENnc TAI