Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1937-Continued

AUTHORIZING COOPERATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FARM FORESTRY IN THE STATES AND TERRITORIES

APRIL 28, 1937.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. DoXEY, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 4728]

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bil (H. R. 4728) to authorize cooperation in the development of farm forestry in the States and Territories, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Page 1, line 10, following the word "activities" and preceding the word "wherever", insert the following: "according to the statutes, if any, of the respective States".

Page 2, line 19, after the word "planted" insert a period and strike out the balance of the sentence down to and including the word "agriculture" in line 1 on page 3.

Page 3, line 3, strike out the figures "$5,000,C00" and insert in lieu thereof "$2,500,000"

The purpose of this proposed legislation is to carry the services of the Forest Service to the ordinary farmer in all parts of the United States. It authorizes the cooperation of the Federal Government through this Service to encourage proper care and improvement of existing farm woodlands and to assist the ordinary farmer in the proper protection and intelligent cultivation of the millions of acres. of woodlands throughout the United States. It undertakes to bring about cooperation between the farmers of America and the Forest Service. In the past, the development of forestry in the main has approached the problem of forest conservation with respect to large areas of watershed protection and improvement of practices in the care of forests in a large commercial sense. Of the more than 600 million acres of forest land in this country, about 150 million acres consist of small tracts of woodlands on the farms. It is the purpose of this legislation to deal particularly with these tracts. They fur

nish timber, fuel, and supplies which add to the cash annual income of more than two million farmers. This income has an estimated value of $250,000,000 annually.

In addition to this, the proper care of these small tracts of farm woodlands will aid very materially in the many indirect benefits which come from the proper handling of our forest lands and will be of material assistance in the prevention of damages to farm lands caused by erosion and floods. It will have a tendency, also, to bring about a substantial increase in the value of farm lands throughout the Nation. Very often these millions of acres of farm woodlands are poorly managed. The purpose of this legislation is to bring about a more scientific and effective control of these forests, by authorizing the Forest Service to act in cooperation with the individual farmer, as well as with cooperative organizations of farmers, to bring about the improvement which intelligent cooperation will afford. This legislation will enable the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with land-grant colleges, universities, and State forestry agencies, and also with the individual farmer, to carry out a broad program designed more intelligently to produce forest growth on portions of farms where the land is best suited to forestry crops. Such a program will enable the Forest Service, by an educational approach, to present the idea to the landowner, and to secure his cooperation in producing forest stock and in establishing a forest crop in accordance with intelligent and improved ideas. It will strengthen and expand the importance of the forest crop in the management of farm land, not only for the forest products which will be produced as part of the farm income, but also for the part forested land can play in protection of the soil resources and in regulation of storm water run-off. The owner of the land will have a definite responsibility and direct participation in the undertaking. He will be required to furnish the land and one-half of the additional expense which will be brought about by the plan proposed in the bill. Provision is made for the necessary investigations for the scientific and orderly conduct of the program.

Below is shown a letter from the Acting Secretary of Agriculture, under date of April 9, 1937, making a favorable report on this proposed legislation:

Hon. MARVIN JONES,

Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives.

APRIL 9, 1937.

DEAR MR. JONES: I appreciated receiving your letter of February 16 enclosing copy of H. R. 4728, by Mr. Doxey, a bill to authorize cooperation in the development of farm forestry in the States and Territories, and for other purposes, and your request for a statement from this Department thereon.

There is real need for this legislation. It would in brief authorize Federal cooperation to increase farm-forest income, conserve water resources, increase employment, and otherwise promote welfare on farms through afforestation or reforestation on farm lands; encourage proper woodland care, improvement, utilization, and marketing; and provide for necessary investigations.

Forestry effort in the United States has been, and still is, predominantly concerned with large areas of commercial and watershed forests. Yet in 1929 the farm woodlands comprised 150 million acres of our 615 million acres of forest land.

Some 127 million acres of farm woodlands are capable of producing commercial forest crops. They produce fuel, posts, lumber, and other material used on the farm or sold to secure supplemental cash income. The value of the timber products cut in 1929 was estimated by the census at one-quarter billion dollars. Unfortunately farm woodlands in general are poorly managed through failure of owners or tenants to consider certain simple but fundamental practices. Over