Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-20
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
az DR.. ANDREW M SOULE

cleaner ana SCralSnlSr SleIIlS Will De
secured, and we should adapt our
! paintings to the nature and char
acter of the land. There would be
| little difficulty on the average farm
| in Georgia in establishing wood
lot of mixed composition and of
uneven aged stands. Where this is
done there will be some trees OF
| every character available for
| harvesting each year and the farm
can be supplied with all its needs
| and requirements in so far as lum-
Der of suitable quality and character
| is concerned.
| It is said that we use 500 feet and
| upward of lumber per capita in this
country. There are presumed to be
five persons in the average Ameri-
| can family. If we can obviate the
necessity Of buying $500 feet of
various grades of lumber each year
| the farmer will be richer by from
! $50 to $500. Surely this is sum
worth saving. 1t represents a part
of the present unearned increment
which the farm wood lot may be
made to yield. What a vast total of
wasted wealth mad energy it repre-
sents in the aggregate.
I shall not attempt to detail the
processes which should engage the
| attention and consideration of the
! landowner in the matter of improv-
ing his wood lot. This matter has
been given careful consideration by
the forestry division of the Georgia
State College of Agriculture, and a
pamphlet setting forth all the things
which should be considered and
undertaken has been prepared and
widely distributed. There are plenty
of copies of this publication still
available. One of these little cir.
culars should be in the hands of
every landowner. 1t should occupy
a prominent place in his agricultural
library. It should be studied care
fully and it's directions inter-
preted and put into practice at those
seasons Of the year when there is
little else. to do on the farm. There
should be one of these pamphlets in
the hands of every school teacher in
Georgia and every editor should be
asked to learn the suggestions 1t
contains by heart and emphasize
them from time to time in the edi.
torial pages of his paper.
not even today respectable wood
lot. Timber for the construction
of tenant houses must be purchased
from the lumber dealer in the ada
cent town or city. On many farms
there is barely sufficient wood avail
able for the cookstuve and often not
enough to heat the house adequate
ly. Yet there are thousands of
nf loY,6 hn
which has been depleted and which
have bene eroded, washed away and
destroyed in large measure by rea-
son of the wholesale destruction of
our forests. One might almost think
when he views the landscape from
car window that trees were the
primal enemy of nina.
Today we are said to be using
trees three times faster than they
can reproduce themselves. How
much longer can this practice , be
continued? Already the age of stone
and brick, of cement and steel has
been ushered in. Building costs
have grown amazingly. The price of
lumber has been, and will again
very soon be almost prohibitive. The
farmer must have lumber. It is as
essential to agricultural prosperity
as the land itself. In self defense
the farmer must become a forester,
BY growing trees on waste or idle
land he can arm himself more ef-
fectiVely against the exigencies of
the situation more quickly and sue
cessfully than in any other manner
Let us make of the forest a friend
and neighbor, protector to the
land, a revenue producer, a source
Of water supply and a power in ad.
ding to the beauty and success of
every community.
There is not a farmer in Georgia
who would not add to the value of
his holdings at least 500 per year
through the planting of trees about
his homestead and the conservation
Of his farm wood lot. There are
$4,000 farms in the state. Would
not the item of $3.50 900 look well