144 Forestry Quarterly. 



Simply because it ])aid best. vSaxon forestry, in contradistinc- 

 tion to the Prussian, is on a distinctly financial basis; result of 

 the "Bodenreinertrag" theory as against the "Waldreinertrag" 

 theory." The former, which finds its highest exemplification in 

 Saxony, treats the soil as the capital and the forest strictly as a 

 crop, to be grown as quickly and economically as possible and 

 marketed as profitably as possible, i. e. to make each acre of 

 ground yield the highest money returns, while the latter attempts 

 to secure from the forest as a capital the most satisfactory re- 

 turn. 



Saxony's polic}^ has paid, as the following figures bear wit- 

 ness : Average gross income per annum, $2,000,000 ; average 

 net income, per annum, $1,378,530; average net income per acre, 

 per annum, $3.18.* 



This is a rate of revenue of about 2^%. But, if one takes into 

 account the latent revenue represented by improvements in the 

 growing stock and character of the forest, the rate of revenue 

 reaches 5-J%. 



At first glance the Saxons should, therefore, be well pleased 

 with themselves and their management. As usual, however, 

 there is a fly in the ointment and that is the universally admitted 

 fact that the constant growing of pure spruce stands started by 

 Cotta some hundred years ago, continued under Pressler and en- 

 dorsed by Judeich, has impoverished the soil and brought on all 

 the scourges to which pure stands are heir. Areas that once bore 

 splendid stands of spruce no longer can support them. 



In this lies a tremendous argument for the golden mean. 

 Prussia hoards her forest capital like a treasure trove and be- 

 cause she feels that too rapid a rotation causes the soil to de- 

 teriorate in productive power, sometimes has 40% of an Oberfor- 

 sterei in mature stands. Saxony, hoisting the banner of "high 

 yields and many of them" does not content herself with prevent- 

 ing an over-accumulation of capital, but goes to the extreme of 

 imperiling the future for the sake of present cash returns. 



The disastrous results are seen in the income from the Tharandt 

 Revier which is typical of Saxon Forests in this respect : 



* These figures must be antiquated, for in 1910, the net income was $5.17 

 per acre ; the net yield being $2,203,327. — Ed. 



