610 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ested but has strengthened her very 

 much for war purposes. 



When Baron Stein sought to raise 

 money for the King he looked abotit 

 for something that he could pledge by 

 way of security — he looked hopelessly 

 until he came to the wilderness of 

 forests lying between Hanover and the 

 Russian border. These were of indefi- 

 nite capacity and had been hitherto 

 conducted in the reckless manner char- 

 acteristic of latter-day forestation in 

 this country. The wood was at the 

 mercy of government officials who 

 received salaries from the public purse 

 but were of little more value than the 

 so-called Fire Wardens of our New 

 York State townships. 



In parenthesis let me say that not 

 long ago we had a fire on the eastern 

 slopes of the Catskills that destroyed 

 several hundred acres of valuable woods 

 all within a few miles of farms and 

 ^411ages. The town supervisor knew 

 nothing about the fire when I called 

 him on the telephone — after the fire had 

 been burning three days. Many 

 farmers declined to come out and fight 

 the flames because they had not been 

 summoned to do so by the Supervisor 

 who is also Fire Warden under the 

 State law. Fortunately after five days, 

 and without the assistance of the nom- 

 inal Fire Warden, this fire was subdued, 

 but only after serious injury to dozens 

 of woodlots in this section. 



The Prussian forests of 1806 were not 

 quite so wastefully managed as are 

 ours of 1914, but still left much to be 

 desired from the standpoint of so 

 thorough a man as Stein. He at once 

 organized the schools which are today 

 models for the world and in which the 

 great army of Foresters and Game 

 Keepers are trained for their high 

 calling. And it is indeed a high calling, 

 for it is not merely that of logging and 

 fighting fires — serious as is that part 

 of a forester's duties. The Herr For- 

 ester of Germany is the peer of any man 

 in culture and social position, for his 

 education has been long and thorough 

 before he has been allowed to control 

 so vital a part of the state as the forest ! 

 He must be not only familiar with the 

 trees as a lumberman, he must also be 

 a botanist, entomologist, zoologist, min- 



eralogist — indeed must be an all round 

 student of what can injure or help a 

 tree in every season. 



For more than forty years I have been 

 an almost annual tramper in the forest- 

 clad mountains of Germany and Austria ; 

 sometimes diversified by canoe cruises 

 through sylvan wildernesses no less 

 carefully guarded by the highest human 

 forethought. 



As an American, the first thing to 

 captivate my eye and understanding 

 was the care taken to prevent fire. 

 Every forest is divided into small 

 squares with a clean broad lane on each 

 side. Thus a forester can look for 

 miles down these pine tree canyons and 

 quickly note a fire — or a poacher. 

 Moreover, so carefully are the forests 

 mapped that by preconcerted signals 

 the other foresters can be called to the 

 exact spot without loss of time. 



If the reader has ever had one experi- 

 ence in trainping through an American 

 forest like those of the Adirondacks 

 thirty years ago he will know what it 

 means to have clean broad lanes at regu- 

 lar intervals instead of a tangle of fallen 

 logs, brambles, wild grape vines and 

 tough bushes. 



The Gemian forest is clean under foot ; 

 whereas with us the farmer who has cut 

 some telephone poles or railway ties 

 leaves the branches to feed the next 

 fire which may be started by a careless 

 match. 



Baron Stein soon faced the King's 

 creditors with something tangible — a 

 scheme for treating all the Royal 

 forests as part of the national treasure. 

 The King made over this formerly 

 private perquisite to the State and the 

 State in turn now borrowed money from 

 Holland on this security alone; I had 

 almost said on that of Stein! It reads 

 strangely today, yet owe own history 

 tells us of times when a private citizen 

 had to endorse the notes of the United 

 States before they could produce cash ! 



You will pardon me for not burdening 

 this article with statistical figures — 

 those interested can easily supply this 

 deficiency and myself am eager to leave 

 my desk and start once more for the 

 woods — my most congenial sanctum. 



But before closing let me record the 

 conclusions to which a long life has 



