REVIEWS 



The Available Resources of the German Forests. Les Resources Re- 

 alisables des Forets Allomandes, G. Huffel, 15 pp. 



Professor G. Huffel, of the Nancy Forest School, proposes a scheme 

 in a special brochure for utilizing the mature and near-mature timber 

 of the German forests to meet the reconstruction needs of France 

 and her allies. He estimates that France will need 32,000,000,000 

 board feet^ in the next five years to repair the damage of the war 

 and that Great Britain must import during the same period 20 billion 

 feet. Italy, Belgium and Serbia will need 10 billion more. So that 

 the total requirements of the allies will amount to 62 billions. To this 

 should be added the probable needs of Germany for the next five 

 years. These are estimated at 64 billions, based on pre-war imports 

 and home production. 



To meet this requirement of 119 billion feet Germany alone has 

 over 67 billion feet of mature timber in her State forests, while the 

 communal and private forests have 62 billions more, or a total of 

 130 billion board feet. To this could be added the forest resources of 

 Austria, 8,500,000 acres cutting 240 board feet per acre, and those 

 of Hungary with its 2,500,000 acres of State forests alone. 



M. Huffel's plan is to have the exploitation of this mature timber 

 carried out by allied prisoners working under the direction of the 

 commanders of the army of occupation, spreading the operation over 

 five years. Germany would, of course, be charged a reasonable price 

 for the lumber which she used. He is at considerable pains to explain 

 that this appropriation of the German forest resources is fully justified 

 under the circumstances and that unless some such scheme is carried 

 out France will be greatly weakened. Her forest wealth is so depleted 

 by the ravages of the Hun and the forced cutting to meet military 

 demands that a century will be required to repair the damage. "Pour 

 reconstituer une foret il ne faut pas seulement un sacrifice d'argent, 

 il faut du temps." 



But the most interesting part of the brochure to the forester are the 

 figures upon which is based the estimate of mature timber. There 



' Figuring one cubic meter to make 200 feet board measure. This figure might 

 be increased by 25 per cent. 



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