90 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



The director general of forests at Strassburg 



Forest Statistics has pubhshed a OS-page volume of statistical in- 



for formation regarding the forests of Alsace-Lor- 



Alsacc-Lorrainc raine. Among other things this shows that the 



forest area of the two provinces on April 1. 



191(3, was 4 40,."')94 hectares, of which ,'!] per cent was owned by the 



State, 4 per cent was undivided between the State and a commune, 



46 per cent was in the hands of communes and public institutions, and 



19 per cent was held by private owners. Since 1871 the forest area 



has decreased 5,073 hectares, or slightly more than 1 per cent. During 



the same period gross prices of timber have increased .'54 per cent and 



of firewood 47 per cent, but there has been a constant tendenc}^ to 



include smaller and smaller material in the former class. The annual 



yield of the forests owned bv the State and of those undivided between 



the State and a commune is estimated at 551,422 cubic meters of large 



timber, including both iirtermediate and final products. * During the 



war, however, the actual cut and other matters of administration were 



decidedly abnormal. S. T. D. 



Huffel, G. Staiistiquc dcs foirts dc l Alsace-Lorraine. Rev. Eaux et Forets. 

 38:185-188. 1920. 



The economic crisis in Switzerland caused by 

 Economic Crisis the war still continues, with high prices for both 

 in Stvitzerland timber and firewood and comparatively little 

 building activity. While forest devastation has 

 not been general, it is necessary to use every means to make the forests 

 more productive. By more intensive management, made possible largely 

 by decreasing the area under the supervision of each forest officer, it 

 should be feasible to increase the annual production of the public 

 forests from 2.7 to 4.4 million cubic meters, thus making the country 

 independent of wood imports aside from exotic timbers. The recently 

 created "central forest office," with headquarters at Soleure, should 

 prove effective in supplementing other activities to awaken public in- 

 terest in and support of the practice of better forestry. S. T. D. 



Barbey, A. Chroniquc Suisse. Rev. Eanx et Forets. .58:130-138. 1920. 



