The Rise of Silviculture. 553 



if such is the case, is this policy so readily inaugurated and 

 carried out as he declares. History answers, "No" to the first 

 question. Let us admit for the sake of argument that the pre- 

 valent formalities of red-tapery, that mere convenience and want 

 of thought are largely to blame for the truly serious and ominous 

 conditions to which German forests have come under the con- 

 straint of the inflexible clear-cutting system. Still we cannot 

 assume that all the leaders in the theory and practice of forestry 

 during the last sixty years have been out of touch with the mass 

 of their colleagues and misunderstood by them, or that they have 

 been either dunces or drones. All, or nearly all of them, have 

 honestly and earnestly striven to advance forestry and to make 

 use of newly found scientific facts and the demands of political 

 economy to this end. To-day the same as a half century and a 

 century ago Germany enjoys the reputation of standing first in 

 the theory and practice of forestry and especially in silviculture. 

 The condition of German forests bears out this reputation in spite 

 of obvious shortcomings. Even the most ardent advocate of 

 natural reproduction, uneven-aged and mixed stands, must admit 

 that the much abused practice of clear-cutting and the objection- 

 able custom of planting yearling pine seedlings have given rich 

 yields and promising, thrifty stands over large areas. Neither 

 indifference nor custom nor blind devotion to Pfeil has prompted 

 the change, under way since the forties of the last century, from 

 natural regeneration to the artificial reproduction of pure forests. 

 Weise has shown (Miind. forste. Hefte. V. p. i, 1894) how 

 gradually Pfeil himself abandoned natural regeneration and how 

 hesitatingly at first he advocated planting and how he gave the 

 reasons for this change in his writings. This change has in- 

 creased the yield of the State forests and promises to continue to 

 do so for generations to come in spite of the greatly increased risk 

 and damage it entails. It is my conviction that the clear-cut high 

 forest is distinctly worth continuing ; that it is a valuable and con- 

 venient form of forest. It is no more a sovereign remedy than 

 Diiesberg's selection forest, and it must never fail to properly 

 respect the natural laws of forest growth. But wild nature and 

 man's culture are irreconcilable and any attempt to return to 

 nature in managed forests must needs fail. Economic efificiency 

 is the criterion for managed forests, and earlier ages made quite 

 different demands than does the present. Fuel and forage were 



