FORESTRY IN HUNGARY. 7 



sheep, and goats from the whole area, by successive blocks, has 

 become an absolute necessity. 



But although, on the re-establishment of a constitutional Govern- 

 ment in 1867, matters began to mend, little real i^rogress was made 

 until 1879, when the present Forest Law was passed, which not 

 only ensures the proper management of the forests, but regulates 

 the floating of loose logs and timber rafts, as well as the transport 

 of forest produce by land, thus protecting both the owners of 

 forests and the timber merchants, as well as the persons through or 

 over whose property the produce passes ; and the forests are now 

 under proper control throughout the entire country. 



The old way of working was not one calculated to develop a good 

 system of sylviculture ; but now, as the forests become thinner and 

 wood dearer, while mountain sides are denuded and river banks 

 undermined, the necessity for the early introduction of a better 

 system is realised, and people begin to appreciate the new law, 

 which, if it came at the last moment, did not come quite too late ; 

 and under it a good and certain forest revenue may still be looked 

 for. 



The excessive fellings practised between 1850 and 1880 so re- 

 duced the stock of timber in the forests, that they have not now, 

 with comparatively few exceptions, sufficient to enable their rational 

 management to be at once undertaken. It has been calculated that 

 the stock remaining is not more than two-thirds of what it ought 

 to be, and a due proportion of age-classes is rarely found. On the 

 other hand, however, in about one-fifth part of the entire area, the 

 forests, which here consist principally of beech, but partly also of 

 conifers, cannot yet be worked on account of the absence of export 

 roads, which, in many cases, it will not at present pay to make; 

 and these will, as they are gradually opened out, supply the home 

 and foreign markets for some years to come. The statement, then, 

 which is often heard, that there is still a great stock of wood in the 

 forests, is only true for parts of them. It is said that in the State 

 oak and fir forests, the stock of timber falls short of what it should 

 be by 575 and 649 millions of cubic feet respectively, while in the 

 beech forests the stock is in excess by 1013 millions of cubic feet ; 

 and the condition of the forests owned by other proprietors is cer- 

 tainly not more favourable than this. The all-round density of the 

 forests is probably not more than from 6 to 7, and the younger 

 age-classes, where they exist, are, generally speaking, in an unsatis- 

 factory condition. It used to be the custom to sell, in addition to 



