Comment. 459 



ment of the States which can much better afford to wait for the 

 long run. Every year the German Foresters' Association pub- 

 Hshes the statistics of the forest management of all the State 

 Forests and such communal and private forest administrations 

 as are willing to give information, compiled by Dr. Schwappach. 

 For the year 191 1, over 69 per cent, of the communal forests are 

 reported and merely 11 per cent- of private forests. Naturally, 

 at least these latter comprise the larger holdings and the best ad- 

 ministrations which are not afraid to come into the light. From 

 these data — which are not estimates but regular book accounts for 

 each unit of administration, giving in detail the material cut, the 

 expenditures and incomes — we have compiled separately the data 

 for State Forests, communal and private forests with the follow- 

 ing result as to net yield per acre. State forests (approximately 

 ir million acres), $2.78; communal forests (1.5 million acres), 

 $2.40; private (1.6 million acres), $2. That is to say, the best 

 private management remains about 30 per cent, below average 

 state management, the communal management being to some ex- 

 tent under state control remaining also below the State's results. 

 This difference is still more striking if we take Prussia alone, 

 where supervision of private forest is less developed. On the 

 7,400,000 acres (approximately) of state forests the cut was 73 

 cubic feet, under a conservative, sustained yield management, and 

 the net revenue $2.26; the communal forest, some 1.2 million 

 acres, with a cut of 50 cubic feet, brought about the same net 

 revenue, attesting to good management under fiscal supervision ; 

 but 1,125,000 acres of private forest, with a cut of nearly 60 

 cubic feet netted only $1.70 per acre, showing poorer condition, 

 poorer class of wood and probably overcutting; and we ac- 

 centuate again that this is the record of the better administra- 

 tions. 



The States which have persistently spent money on improv- 

 ing their property and worked for the long run are reaping the 

 benefit. In the last 20 years alone their net results have more 

 than doubled. 



An interesting development of the Lake Sunapee forest con- 

 ference which was held under the auspices of the Society for the 

 Protection of New Hampshire Forests was the emphasis placed 



