The farm and the woodlot

by J. E. Barton

Ordinarily, there is little or no attention paid to the woodlot on a farm, and without attention a woodlot is in much the same condition as a corn field in which no attention was paid to the kind of corn planted, and which was not cultivated during the growing season. You commonly find in a woodlot a great variety of trees, some of a valuable species and some of more or less worthless species. You also find crooked and defective and diseased trees, and further you ordinarily do not find in any particular woodlot one-half the trees that the ground will support, which is about the worst feature of all, since here is an economic waste.

PURPOSES OF THE WOODLOT.

When the improvement of the woodlot is seriously under consideration, one of the first propositions is to determine just what purpose the woodlot will serve in the economy of the farm. Ordinarily a woodlot will be maintained for the following reasons: 1. To furnish fence posts; 2. To furnish fuel; 3. As a shelter belt for certain areas or for the whole farm; 4. As a protection on steep up-lands against erosion; 5. As a means of regeneration of worn out land; 6. As an investment pure and simple, without regard to immediate returns; 7. For the aesthetic value. Any combination of these reasons may prevail for the maintenance of a woodlot; however, each one of them will be discussed in its turn as separate propositions.

1. Probably one of the chief reasons for maintaining the woodlot on farms in Kentucky from the purely utilitarian standpoint will be to obtain fence posts. These are a commodity on the farm which cannot be dispensed with and for which the demand is staple. Concrete may and will at some future date, supersede wood as fence posts, especially in rich easily accessible agricultural regions where farming is very profitable and conducted as a business, but it will do this only slowly in remote regions, and at the present time concrete posts are not extensively used in any locality. A woodlot can then be reasonably maintained for the production of fence posts. Ordinarily the posts are largely consumed on the home farm, since they are more valuable to the producer at this point than if he should sell them; however, if there is a surplus, a market for this will not be lacking and the price obtained will more than justify the cost of the establishment of the woodlot and its maintenance up to the time of harvesting the crop. In considering the species which lend themselves most readily to the production of this class of products in Kentucky, undoubtedly, black locust (Robinia pseudacacia) sometimes locally called yellow locust, lends itself most readily to this purpose. It is indigenous to the State, grows fairly rapidly and lasts a long time in contact with the soil, three prime requisites of any species which is to be used in the growing of this class of material. Other species which may be used are catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), walnut, osage orange, chestnut and juniper (also known locally as cedar or red cedar).

2. As a general proposition, it appears that the maintenance of a woodlot for the growing of fuel, so far as Kentucky is concerned, is not an important consideration. So far as my observation goes throughout the State—even in the rural districts—coal is the general fuel in use on account of the abundance of supply and is in a large number of ways cheaper and preferable to wood as a fuel. On this account the woodlot will supply only a very small amount of fuel and consideration of this matter is not important. If it does happen that a supply of fuel wood is desirable or necessary on the farm, undoubtedly, hickory and oak lend themselves most readily for this purpose. Any species of hickory grows fairly rapidly, and certain species of oak, as for instance red oak, makes a reasonably rapid growth. A woodlot for this purpose would be managed as a sprout forest.

3. The removal of forests and wooded areas of Kentucky has undoubtedly resulted in certain climatic changes. These are principally to be noticed in the prevalence of high winds which formerly did not exist, and such winds have a marked effect on certain farm activities, as for instance the handling of an orchard or the handling of stock. A shelter belt, therefore, offers protection to the farm house and surrounding buildings. To be of use, the shelter belt or wind break must be in the direction of the prevailing winds. Further, since in all probability a shelter belt is of most use and is most desirable in the winter time, the component species in the shelter belt should be, to a large extent, evergreens, so that the effectiveness may be as great in winter as in summer. In connection with an orchard, a shelter belt or wind break, undoubtedly, protects against cold and destructive currents of air which injure the orchard in various ways either by injuring the blossoms of the fruit, or at a later period, by injuring the fruit, which is blown from the trees by the wind and left in bad condition for shipping.

The species then which should compose a shelter belt should, as far as possible, have these characteristics. They should grow fast to furnish the maximum amount of protection in the shortest space of time, and should have as wide a usefulness as possible. So far as the majority of instances are concerned, the shelter belt might have two objects. The production of useful material for the farm as fence posts as well as a wind break. In this case, it would be well to plant black locust in conjunction with some evergreens, as white pine or Norway spruce, hemlock or yellow pine. The number of evergreens which may be utilized for this purpose in Kentucky are limited, but the number of hardwoods which lend themselves to this purpose is very great, as for instance, the hickories, ashes, black locust, poplars, tulip poplar, osage orange and others. Beech also makes a good tree for the composition of a shelter belt.

Chestnut plantation, thirty years old. Photo by U. S. Forest Service.