The farm and the woodlot

Black locust grove in pasture on poor soil. Seed sown in plowed land, in rows four feet apart. Nine years ago cultivated one year, and since thinned twice. 197 trees on one-half acre will make 514 posts (7′-3″). Photo by U. S. Forest Service.
By J. E. BARTON, State Forester of Kentucky.
Published by the direction of the State Board of Forestry.
Governor James B. McCreary, Chairman.
John W. Newman, Commissioner of Agriculture.
Joseph H. Kastle, Director, Kentucky Experiment Station.
Hon. Johnson N. Camden, Versailles.
Hon. W. H. Mackoy, Covington.
Mrs. Mason Maury, Louisville.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important phases of the forestry work, so far as the individual States are concerned, is the question of the woodlot and its improvement. In the Eastern States—that is, those east of the Mississippi River—a very considerable portion of the forested areas within each State is in the form of woodlots which are a part of and an adjunct to the farm so that in any comprehensive forest policy for the Eastern United States a great deal of attention must be focused upon this phase of the work. This is, undoubtedly, true so far as Kentucky is concerned where, as a whole, the land is held in fee simple by the citizens of the State as farms from a few acres in size up to several thousand acres. By the majority of the owners of these farms, the value and importance of the woodlot is little understood nor has the practice of forestry as it applies to these woodlots any significance whatsoever. The object of this bulletin is to make clear just what forestry is, the relation of scientific forestry to the improvement of the woodlot and the economical part which the farm woodlot plays in the industrial and social welfare of the State. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most difficult features of the work to present properly, because it is a hard matter to make clear to the average individual just why a woodlot is an asset in connection with his property and how the improvement and care of his woodlot concerns him closely and means a proportional increase directly in the actual money value of the material on hand and indirectly in ways which do not present themselves readily unless the attention is focused on them—as for example, the value of a woodlot as a wind-break in connection with an orchard or in connection with the farm as a whole, or the value of a wooded area on an easily eroded hillside as a fixative for the soil and a preventative against the deterioration of the cultivated areas below it. The effort then of this bulletin will be—first, to show how the average woodlot may be brought to a standard of productivity compatible with the complete utilization of the ground, and second, to show in detail what the direct and indirect benefits of a woodlot in connection with any farm will be under the best circumstances. In the preparation of this bulletin, free use has been made of all bulletins and publications on this subject, which the writer has been able to get hold of and acknowledgment is made to these as a whole, since it would be impracticable to make complete individual acknowledgement.