SOME ASPECTS OF THE EXCURSION TO GERMANY. 165 
in all countries, and it would have been of interest had informa- 
tion been obtainable in that respect. It, however, appears, owing 
to the imperfect iustraments at present in use, that no reliable 
data can be obtained as to the velocity of severe storms of wind, 
such as, during late years, we have experienced. No doubt other 
countries are liable to be visited in a similar way, and Germany, 
it appears, is no exception to the rule, as was evident by the 
photographs noticed in the Academy at Eberswalde, showing the 
devastating effects of such storms on her woodlands.! 
The various states of Germany interest themselves in furthering 
and encouraging agriculture, by means of colleges, experimental 
stations, and otherwise. In a like manner, equal attention is paid 
to forestry, as is apparent from the highly equipped academies 
maintained in suitable centres for its teaching, and for investiga- 
tions and experiments in connection therewith. Take for instance 
that at Eberswalde, which is equipped with a Director and nine 
Professors. The Academy itself is a three-storeyed brick building, 
the lower flat containing a reading-room, a chemistry and minera- 
logy lecture-room, a chemical laboratory, an experimental work- 
room, chemical and geological collections, weighing-room, geological 
museum, etc. The second flat contains lecture-room, forestry and 
chase museums, geological and physical collections, meteorological 
workroom, ete. On the third floor are lecture-rooms, workrooms, 
room for drawing, botanical and zoological museums, etc. These 
collections of geological, mineralogical, botanical, and other speci- 
mens are highly instructive and interesting, and the same may be 
said of the models of forest machinery, tools, timber-slides, etc., 
a3 well as those demonstrating the various uses to which the 
produce of the forest may be applied. With the addition of 
experimental nurseries, and the surrounding forests, the students 
of such academies have every opportunity of being thoroughly 
trained in everything connected with forestry. 
A duty, and an important one, that devolves upon the repre- 
sentatives of a nation, is that of developing its various resources. 
Where, therefore, land unfit for profitable agriculture exists, but 
which might, by systematic afforestation be utilised, they cannot, 
1 On 12th and 13th March 1876, about 30 million cubic feet of timber were 
blown down in the State and communal forests of Hesse, or 84 cubic feet per 
acre ; and the same storm cleared 24 cubic feet in the Saxon forests, or 40 per 
cent. of their fixed annual yield. 
‘ On the Ist August 1877, a whirlwind, fifty miles to the north of Berlin, 
destroyed 34 million cubic feet of standing timber over a breadth of 24 miles, 
See Schlich’s ‘‘ Manual of Forestry,” vol. iv., p. 466. 
