161 



" In ancient times forests were in some instances preserved and extended by means of 

 systematical planting of trees in East India and in Persia, either to serve the purposes of 

 anchoretic Hindoo priests or as hunting grounds for the princes. The famous jjaradasos 

 which Xenophon praises for their grandeur and beauty, were in fact nothing but the 

 well-kept game-parks of the kings and satraps of Persia. Likewise the abundance of 

 natural timber in some parts of Germany may to some extent be ascribed to the hunting 

 passion of the princes and noblemen, who in early times took possession of the forests and 

 protected them and the game therein contained against trespass by rigorous and often ex- 

 tremely cruel laws. Though it was in Germany, noted for the inclination of its people to 

 contemplation, thinking and economy, where the idea to preserve existing forests and to 

 create new ones by systematic planting, was first conceived and practically carried out for 

 general public purposes. 



"For more than a century forestry has been recognized there as a science, a profession 

 and a regular branch of the public administration. Frederick II., one of the wisest kings 

 that ever sat on a throne, gave it every possible aid and encouragement, well knowing 

 that the .systematical culture of forests would greatly contribute towards the general wel- 

 fare of the country, and by-and-by become a source of a regular and large revenue. The 

 experience of a hundred years has fully endorsed the philosopher of Sans-Souci. Unlike 

 too many other countries, in which an alarming deterioration of the soil and climate is 

 only too clearly perceptible, Germany has gained in fertility ; vast tracts of formerly 

 worthless land, such as the Limburgher Haide, the sandy districts of the Lausitz and Alt- 

 mark and the swamps on the Wartha and Vistula Rivers have been converted either into 

 grain fields or meadows, or into well-stocked forests. Some writers pretend that the 

 climate of Germany has actually improved, but so much is certain, that it has not changed 

 for the worse. It is generally conceded that were it not for the wise preservation of the 

 natural growth of timber and for the extensive cultivation of natural forests, Germany, a 

 country of far less natural resources than either France or Spain, could not sustain fifty 

 millions of people, perhaps not half that number. 



" Other gentlemen of better learning and better versed in the sciences of meteorology 

 and climatology have, at this occasion, in detail explained the importance of forests as 

 attractors, moderators and preservers of humidity, as regulators and equalizers of the 

 temperature, as protectors and fertilizers of the soil, as purifiers of the atmosphere, as 

 distillers of ozone, and as the subject of assthetical and poetical contemplation. My re- 

 marks will be confined to facts established by history." 



Palestine. 



"At the time when Joshua conquered the Promised Land milk and honey were flow- 

 ing in Canaan, that is, it was a country of wonderful fertility, blessed with a delightful 

 climate. Both ranges of the Lebanon and its spur mountains were then densely covered 

 with forests in which the famous cedar predominated, that stately tree so masterly and 

 poetically described by the Psalmist and by the prophets. The large and continually in- 

 creasing population of Palestine enjoyed comfort and abundance during many centuries. 

 But a gradual devastation of the forests, which was finally completed by the Venetians 

 aud Genoese, brought about a general deterioration of the country. The hills of Gallilee, 

 once the rich pasturing ground for large herds of cattle, are now sterile knobs. The Jor- 

 dan became an insignificant stream, and the several beautiful, smaller rivers, mentioned 

 in the Bible, now appear as stony runs leading off the snow rainwater, but being com- 

 pletely dry during the greatest part of the year. Some few valleys, in which the fertile 

 soil, washed down from the hills, was deposited, have retained their old fertility, but the 

 few cedar trees remaining as a landmark around the Maronite convent on the rocky and 

 barren Lebanon, look lonely and mournfully upon an arid and desolate country, not fit to 

 sustain one-sixth of such a population as it contained at the time of Solomon." 



Greece, 



"What became of Greece, beautiful Greece, where in the enjoyment of an eternal 

 spring, gods, demi-gods, heroes and men used to pass their happy time in comfort and 



11 (F. G.) 



