When the forestless prairies and plains were being taken up for farm use, and it became neces sary or desirable to plant trees, it was not only or not so much the question of wood-supplies as cli matic amelioration that was looked for in the wood lot, and here, therefore, the location was considered with reference to its function as a wind-break ; the plantings were made around the house and farm buildings, or on the windward side of the orchard, or in shelter-belts alongside of fields.
Within the last ten or fifteen years, since not only the stores of the farm woodlots, hut the for est resources of the country in general, have begun to show signs of exhaustion, there has been more attention paid to the woodlots, and the propriety of treating them as crops rather than as storehouses or mines, has been frequently discussed. Besides, their value to the farm, aside from furnishing the domestic supply of wood, is also more fully recog nized.
In this connection it may be proper to point out that wood prices have risen in the past, and will rise still more rapidly in the future, and hence the neglected woodlot may become a more important rent-producer, if properly used, than could have been supposed a short time ago. This rise in prices, to be sure, affects mainly the better kinds and cuts. In some regions, as in Massachusetts, where the good timber is cut out and poor fuel-wood is plen tiful, there is naturally no such rise noticeable,— a good inducement to pay attention to the woodlot and to improve the character of its product.
One point that the average farmer raises against timber-cropping is that it takes time to grow wood, and one must wait twenty, thirty, forty or more years before one can harvest. This is true. Never theless, we insist that it is good policy to bestow the patience required, considering that this crop is frequently growing on soil otherwise useless ; that each year it grows nearer to a realizing value, and hence increases the value of the farm, even though it may not admit of harvest,—and all this without any expense, or, at most, very little.
Moreover, with a woodlot already in existence, the time at which the results of improvement in the methods of its treatment are reaped are by no means so distant. The response in increased incre
ment will be soon experienced; with little expendi ture, the rate of growth may be doubled and the result reaped within five or six years. This is one of the places where, again and again, mere care in the use has produced astonishing results.
On a well-regulated farm of 160 acres, at least forty to fifty acres could he advantageously kept under wood, even if only the home consumption is to be satisfactorily supplied by the annual growth, and the waste land to be made productive.
Importance of the woodlot.
As to the importance of the woodlots and their value to the nation as wood-producers, we can gain an idea from the Census statistics. For the year 1900 the Census shows that over $100,000,000 worth of wood was cut on farmers' woodlots, and that in round numbers about one-third of the area held in farmers' hands is under wood, or waste fit only for wood production, namely, about two hun dred and eighty million acres.
The value of the woodlot to the farmer we may place in four categories : (1) As a wood - supply. —In many cases, the obvious value which lies in the supply of wood materials may be the least important one, and, if there were no other advantages to be derived, the farmer might very well dispense with it. The de velopment of means of transportation and improve ment of roads have made coal accessible to many farmers, so that the fuel-supply, to these at least, is not now so important a question as it once was. Again, wire fences are better and often cheaper than the wooden fences. The wood trade in many regions is so well developed that the farmer can buy wood-supplies of any description from the lumber-yard.
But, aside from the fact that these new ways require expenditures of ready cash, the length of haulage and the consequent waste of time and energy often make it economy to rely on home supplies. There come times, also, as in continued snow-blockades or during coal strikes, when in dependence from such market supplies is appre ciated ; many farming communities deficient in woodlots have suffered fuel-famines which set them a-thinking about their waste places that might have furnished the needed fuel.