Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 8, Number 18, DeMotte, Jasper County, 31 March 1938 — Wasteful Burning [ARTICLE]

Wasteful Burning

Twigs and branches too small for fuel have their own value in the w’ell managed farm woodland, Soil Conservation service workers point out. They should be left to decay and help feed the coming crop of trees. To pile and burn them is as wasteful as burning the straw from a grain crop. Farmers who are double-cropping the wooded areas — for timber and fuel and also for wild game—may want to pile some of the small branches. Brush piles are favorite refuges for many birds and many varieties of small game. Other waste material, well scattered, will decay and return to the soil as a spongy humus that puts the soil into the best condition to absorb rainfall,, thus helping to prevent erosion and providing needed raw material for thrifty forest growlh.