Periodical Literature 405 



The State legislature had the forest 



Bavarian budget for 1915 under consideration for 



Budget seven days during May last year. In order 



for to show how important the income from 



7975 the forests has become the gross receipts 



for several recent years are given below : 



1890 $7,000,000 



1900 9,000,000 



1908 10,000,000 



1910 14,000,000 



1914 16,000,000 



The expenses are now only 49^/2 per cent of the gross income, in 

 spite of the fact that the cost of administration increased 3 per 

 cent the last year on account of pensions and insurance. Similar 

 increases in the neighboring States of Prussia, Hesse, and WiJrt- 

 temburg have been offset in part by their more favorable market 

 conditions. In Bavaria, one of the large costs is the administra- 

 tion by the forest service of the communal and private forests. 

 In addition, servitudes, the high cost of mountain logging, and 

 the general increase in wages have increased costs greatly in the 

 last few years. 



On account of the large percentage of mountain land, the 

 forest units are larger than in Wiirttemburg, Saxony, or Hesse, 

 The size of the average State forest is 5500 acres, while the com- 

 munal forests do not average more than 3900 acres. 



The average rotations are as follows : 



Spruce 105 years 



Fir and pine 110 



Beech 118 



The value of the Bavarian State forests is estimated to be as 

 follows : 



Timber $400,000,000 



Soil 75,000,000 



Total $475,000,000 



On this capital value there is an annual interest return of 1.65 

 per cent. 



Much discussion of the question of servitudes took place in 

 the legislature. Two-thirds of the State forests are encumbered 

 in this way. The forest service, of course, is trying to get rid of 

 them as fast as possible, and it was this process of elimination to 



