188 FOREST COMMISSIONEK S KEPOKT. 



left out of our sight. We do not even know that there is 

 anything there to learn.* 

 „ . . It is my puruose here to try to give some little 



Forestry in ,' i i J a 



Germany. |^|^g^ ^^ German forestry. Germany is an old 

 country. Centuries ago what we might call its virgin timber 

 was exhausted, and the country found itself with a dense pop- 

 ulation dependent on a limited area of land to supply its 

 needs for wood material. What should they do? Should 

 they stint their use in this direction to a niggardly amount? 

 Should they exploit new territory and call on the stocks of 

 newer countries for their supply? They did neither of these 

 things. They went to work rather on their own soil to 

 develop fully the resources and capabilities of their own land. 

 The states and the nobles sup})orted the work. Scientists 

 lal)ored and managers experimented. Forest schools were 

 established to spread through the land the knowledge of what had 

 been gained. Finally they piled up a mass of exact information 

 about trees and everything related to their life, and established 

 a system of forest management based thereon, that is one of 

 the finest monuments of the thoroughness, the conservatism 

 and the patience of the German race. And today the forest 

 stands as one of the prime olijects of the people's regard, a 

 source of health, wealth and national independence. 



This report is concluded after several months' study on the 

 ground of the forests of South Germany. As illustrations of 

 what scientific forestry can do I wish to tell of a few repre- 

 sentative facts that came under my own observation. 



tiiniler'^imi ^'^® ^^"''^ forcst of whlcli I gained any knowledge 

 iiio'iey. y^^^^ ^j-jg pi'operty of the city of Freudenstadt in 



Wiirttembuig. I remember thinking as I rode up to the 



* It is wortli whilo, perhaps, to point rentiers to the best available sources of 

 information. Of these, the publications of the Forestry Division of the United 

 states Uepartnient of Agriculture come first. Tliey are largely contained in the 

 reports of the Department. Most can be had free on application. The American 

 Forestry Association distributes literature to its members, to whose number 

 additions are very welcome. The secretary of the Association is Mr. F. H. 

 Newell, United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. The best manual of 

 European forestry in tlie English language is a series of volumes published in 

 London called Schllch's Manual of Forestry. 



