i82 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



places for royal enjoyment in its pursuit, but have encouraged their 

 cultivation for the production of fuel and timber, as well as for their 

 value in other respects. It will indicate the careful attention given 

 to the forests in Germany, when we find it officially reported that the 

 net returns of the forests are from two to twelve thalers per hectare 

 (two and a half acres), and the value of the land together with its 

 crop is estimated at fifty-two and a half thalers per hectare. 



England, now having a smaller percentage of forest than any coun- 

 try of Europe, with the exception of Spain and Portugal, was well 

 wooded at the remotest historical period ; but as early as the thirteenth 

 century, in the time of Henry III, she found it necessary to import pine- 

 lumber, and apprehension began to be felt of the failure of the forests. 



Hardly anything has been done in England compared with what 

 has been done in Germany, France, and other Continental countries, 

 to establish and protect the forests. Individuals have done some- 

 thing, as for instance the Duke of Athol, who, in the early part of the 

 present century, planted several thousand acres of the barren hillsides 

 of Scotland with the larch. His successors in the dukedom have fol- 

 lowed his worthy example and extended the woodland area, and de- 

 monstrated that the work of forestry, rightly prosecuted, is pecuni- 

 arily profitable as well as desirable in other respects. It is only 

 within the last few years that the English Government has shown any 

 considerable interest in this subject. Some action has been taken for 

 the purpose of protecting the forests in her colonies from destruction, 

 and quite recently a few thousand acres in England itself have been 

 planted with oaks for the purpose of meeting the future demands of 

 the navy. 



The subject of the preservation of the woods is one of the highest 

 practical importance. Man has often acted very unwisely in the exer- 

 cise of his lordship of the forest, and has suffered greatly, and con- 

 tinues to suffer, in consequence. Great districts once populous, and 

 powerful as populous, have been almost converted into deserts, some' 

 of them quite into deserts, and their people diminished in numbers 

 and in power, as the result of a wanton destruction of their forests. 

 France and other European countries have been swept by disastrous 

 floods, or rent by torrents rushing down their mountain-slopes, and 

 carrying masses of rock and gravel into the valleys and plains below, 

 because the forests which Avould have held the floods in check have 

 been recklessly consumed ; and now forest schools are established, 

 and all the power and wealth of governments are put forth for the 

 purpose of staying these evil effects, if possible, by replanting the 

 mountain-sides with trees, and thus restoring the protection which 

 Nature had originally provided. Climates have been changed for the 

 worse, the agricultural productiveness of countries has been lessened, 

 provinces have been depopulated, the health and happiness of nations 

 have been diminished, by the destruction of the forests ; and now sci- 



