The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-07-13
FARM MOCDLOTS.
Value of Forested Areas Frequently Over
looked. Timber In Some Cases the Most
Profitable Crop.


looked. Timber In Some Cases the Most
Profitable Crop.
permanent woodot is an essential
part OF well-equipped farm. In heavily
wooded States especially farmers are
likely to overlook this fact and reckless
~ cut, misuse, or clear up their forest
areas. 1t does not occur to them that it
may be advisable to allow thrifty, i'm
mature timber to mature rather than to
remove it at loss; and that it is often
better to practice intensive agriculture
on areas already cleared than to clear
additional areas which are in growing
timber.
The one direct economic reason for the
use of land as woodlot is that on some
areas timber is the most profitable crop
that can be grown. This, of course, is
especially true of poor and rough land.
Where all the land is adaptable to more
valuable crops the woodlots should occu- !
py only small part of the farm area.
There are great many indirect con-
siderations, however, which justify the
maintenance OF permanent woodlot on
the farm. The important ones, num-
Der of which are usually active in any
pal LlCuldI Case, are. W EoA SohSCLlCHSC
of home use for fuel, posts, and other
farm needs; (N as a windbreak for build
ings or crops; (3) as shelter for stock;
| az for protection of land from erosion;
| (5) to furnish work for men and teams
during spare time; (6) for purely esthetic
reasons and for recreation purposes, for
which reasons alone farm with we'll
| located grove of trees, however small,
will sell for more than one without
Thus woodlot may at the same time in
crease the general prosperity of the
farm, add to it's comfort as a home, and
enhance its value as an investment.
The reason farmers have not given as
full consideration to the Woodlot as it
| deserves is that they have not had com
plete enough knowledge of the market
possibilities of various woodlot products
and of the rate of growth and possible
yields per acre of properly cared for
stands of different species and ages, or
that they have considered only the pres
ent need and have not looked ahead.
Special attention is now being given by
the Forest Service to these questions
and to the question of improved methods
of marketing. Information about the
use of various kinds of wood and the
markets for them has been compiled for
a number of States. In some cases this
information has been published by the
State Foresters in Wood Usirg Industry
Reports and in Handbooks for Market
ing Woodlot Products. A new bulletin
prepared by the Forest Service (Farm-
ers' Bulletin tbs, Measuring and Market
ing Woodlot Products) is handbook of
practical information for farmers regard
ing the measurements of timber, the
forms in which woodlot products are
Sold the methods of sale, and the way
to find market. Another just publish
ed Farmers Bulletin I'll, The Care and
Improvement of the Woodlot) contains
information intended to assist the farm
err in managing his woodlot so that it
will yield the best quality and the largest
amount of timber of which it is capable.
The farmer too often considers only
the local and immediate uses of wood
lot, overemphasizing them and disregard
ing other functions that might Ultimate
ly prove to be more important. For ex-
ample, where agriculture is entering
heavily wooded regions, timber is likely
to be considered only an incumbrance.
In long settled farming regions, where
most of the timber has been cut and
only few trees are left, the farmers
may prefer to save the remnant for the
shade it gives to stock or buildings or
because it improves the appearance of
the farm. In prairie country, protec-
ton to grain crops, orchards, stock, or
buildings, together with service as con-
venient supply of wood for farm con-
sumption, may cause owners to place
high value on the woodlots. In noun
famous regions near thickly populated
manufacturing centers the woodlot may
be valued for its wood producing capac-
ity alone. The temptation is to forget
or underestimate those functions which
are not obviously and Immediately bene-
fetal. As matter Of fact, the less OBJ
vious functions are often the very ones
which are likely to prove of the greatest
| value in the long run. For example,
many of the Minnesota farmers who
totally cleared their lands would be glad
to have their woodlots back again for
protective and other purposes; and farm
ers in the Central States already regret
the abuse which has robbed their wood
lots of the capacity to yield a wood crop
of increasing value on the poorer soils
of the farm. 1t is, therefore, greatly
to the interest of all farmers to consider
not only the present but the possible fu-
ture usefulness of farm Woodot. U.
S. Dept. of Agriculture.
HER LEFT SIDE HURT