Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-07-24
SAYS THE FARMERS
DEPEND ON FORESTS
Forest Service Article Asserts Destruct-
ion Of Woods Means Loss Of Local
Markets.


prom the Forest Service. U. S. Department Of
In regions where timber is the most
important natural resource permanent
forests managed with a view to sus-
tanned timber reduction are absolute
ly essential TO the continuance OF ag-
riculture, according to an article in
the Year Book of the Department of
Agriculture. Just published.
The result of exploiting the timber
without thought of the future is the
final disappearance of numbering op-
erations and therefore, the withdrawal
Of an important iocal market for farm
products. In addition. forest fires Of
ten ravage the cut-over lands and
thus preclude the development OF a
new local market by the resu nption Of
numbering, for. after fire. there is no
chance for new crop of trees
From region where productive tim
berland has been converted into bar
ren waste, the farmers usually have TO
move out. There parts of the United
States in which cultivation of the soil
has ended with the cessation OF local
numbering. or al least shortly after
ward. because. with the withdrawal of
the wood-workers. went the farmers
market for meats, vegetables, hay and
grain There are other regions where
the probability OF local agriculture is
absolutely bound mp with forest pro-
lection. This Is strikingly true in
parts of the Appalachian Mountains
Of the East; it is no less true in many
of then ational forests regions Of the
western part OF the country.
A few years ago, continues the arti-
Gle, more than a hundred farmers in
Montana petitioned against the then
proposed elimination of their section
from the Kootanei National Forest
Its elimination. they knew, from the
history of adjacent land outside the
| forest, would mean that IL would al
once be taken up by timber specula-
tors and lumber companies to be held
for years without development
They knew also that If this came
| about, neighbors could not be obtain
ed or roads or schools be developed
IN the country as rapidly as il the land
| remained under government control
by which the portions really more
suitable for agriculture than for for
est purposes would, in time, be en-
tered by permanent settlers under the
| Forest Homestead Act.
In 1911 an association of Colorado
farmers. who irrigated farms with
water from the North Platte River
sent an urgent request to the govern
ment TO restrict timber cutting on the
North Platte watershed, so that. as far
as possible, high spring freshets could
be prevented and more water made
available for irrigation during the hot
summer months when the crops were
most in need. They said they relied
upon the national forest, within which
the watershed lay, to insure a steady
flow OF water for their crops
The national forests, says the arti-
Gle. besides being the farmers most
valuable source of wood, which is the
chief building material for rural pur-
poses, are also his most valuable
source of water, both for irrigation
and for domestic use. In the West
they afford him a protected grazing
range for his stock; they are the best
insurance against food damage to his
fields, his buildings. his bridges, his
roads and the fertility of his sell