The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1947-07-17
Benefits From Form
Woods Management
By John w, Keller

- BY John W. Keller -
(The following article on
woodland management ha S
been taken from the April 1947
edition of the Soil Conservation
magazine.)
Farm woodland management
is a new phase of the American
farm business in comparison
with management Of cultivated
fields, pastures, meadows and
livestock. Many of our farmers
are only now learning THAT it
is an important part of the
farm economy. Many of them
have let their woodlands de-
teriorate. They haven't carried
out conservation practices, and
their woodlands have produced
less each year.
Farm woodlands that are
carefully and intelligently
managed are bringing in re-
turns to the farmer frequently
as high as those from cultivat-
ed fields, pastures, meadows and
orchards. The farm forestry
forty managed by the South
ern Forest Experiment Station
at Crossett, Ark, is similar to
many farm woodlands of Sec
ond-growth loblolly and short
leaf pine. Each year, products
that should be harvested are
removed, on all parts of this
forty. In 1915, after 7 years of
planned management, the forty
returned a dividend of $500
per acre. On experimental
areas of the Alabama Agricult-
ural Experiment Station at
Auburn, Ala, planted southern
pines have yielded wood pro-
ducts of the following value
per acre per year: Slash pine
IL years old, $14; slash pine II
years old, $12; loblolly pine 20
years old, $40. These returns
compare favorably with those
from growing beef cattle. Gross
returns from beef cattle pro-
duction in Alabama in 1943-45
ranged from $1,000 to $40 per
acre per year. One large land
owner in southern Georgia
stated recently that the profits
from his wooded area more
than made up for losses on his
cultivated lands. In Region III
(Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Min
nesota and Ohio, net returns
per acre per year from farm
woodlands under management
for 6 years or less averaged
woodlands and $1.92 for an
other group of 80.
It is the business of Soil
Conservation Service farm
planners to plan proper land
use for the entire farm. They
must show the farmer how to
get the highest returns from
all parts of his farm, including
the woodland. It is not ALWAYS
easy to convince a farmer of
the actual value Of farm wood
lands. In davising farmers who
have never been interested in
their Woodlands and have made
no attempt to manage them
conservatively, the planner
needs facts and arguments sup
ported by figures, if possible
from farmer experience in the
locality that will prove the
value of woodlands in the farm
economy.
If the farmer planner makes
a real effort, he will find
about as many arguments to
prove the Importance of farm
woodlands as there are to prove
the Importance of cultivated
fields, pastures, or meadows.
The principal arguments in
clude these facts about farm
woodlands.
/. They furnish wood for use
on the farm-The average farm
in the United States requires
about 1000 board feet of lumb-
er, $50 fence posts, and 10 cords
of fuel wood annually. At aver
age current prices, these prod
uctS are worth over 5000, which
the farmer would have to pay
If he bought them. But the
farmer doesn't buy these wood
products. He cuts them in the
farm woodland with farm labor,
in the winter, when farm labor
IS not busy with other farm
Jobs. The woodland saves the
farmer 5000 annually.
2. To furnish revenue for
farm operating expenses When
cutting wood for use on the
farm, it is not hard to cut a
few extra tree that are mature
or should be removed to let
more productive trees grow.
This surplus of wood products
usually finds ready sale local
ly. A little extra work in the
farm woodland will not only
improve the woodland but also
net a few hundred dollars to
increase the farm receipts.
8. They furnish employment
for labor during the winter
Year-round farm labor should
be gainfully employed during
the winter when MANY of tho