. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Fig. 449. Cottonwood (Populus deltuides). the production of timber and farm crops is well shown by the fact that while the 414,000,000 acres of improved farm land, given by the Twelfth Cen- sus, engage 10,000,000 men, or one man to every forty acres, the 700,000,000 acres of forests engage only 120,000 men, em- ployed in harvesting the timber and getting it out to the nearest points of shipment, or one man to every 5,800 acres. This dif- ference large in this country because most of the labor that is employed in our forests i
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Fig. 449. Cottonwood (Populus deltuides). the production of timber and farm crops is well shown by the fact that while the 414,000,000 acres of improved farm land, given by the Twelfth Cen- sus, engage 10,000,000 men, or one man to every forty acres, the 700,000,000 acres of forests engage only 120,000 men, em- ployed in harvesting the timber and getting it out to the nearest points of shipment, or one man to every 5,800 acres. This dif- ference large in this country because most of the labor that is employed in our forests is engaged solely with harvesting and transporting the timber crops, and practically none with forest-culture proper, which is still in its inception. But even in forests managed most intensively, only one-tenth to one-thirtieth of the labor required by an acre of farm land is needed per acre of forest land. The difi:erent bi-anches of agricultural production may be arranged in the order in which each calls for labor, beginning with that which needs least, as follows: Ranching, wood-grow- ing, hay-raising, production of cereals, fruit - growing and truck-farming. At a smaller expenditure of labor, forest land is capable of producing at the same time an equal, if not a greater amount of useful vegetable substance than farm land. Thus, common farm crops yield on an average 3,400 to 4,600 pounds of vegetable substance per acre ; of this, only about one-third (1,000 to 1,500 pounds) is in the form of grain. An acre of forest produces under human care 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of vegetable substance annually, and of this about one-half is in the form of wood, the re- mainder being roots (450 pounds), and leaves (3,000 pounds). Deducting from the wood the amount of water held by it mechanically, there re- mains 1,500 to 3,600 pounds (dry weight) of vegetable sub- stance, as the product of one acre in one year. Putting these facts together with the Census fig- ures, according to which the
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