376 AMEEICAN FOREST PLANTATIONS. 



anytliiiig is to be hoped, are such as shall make it a matter of 

 private advantage to the landholder to spare the trees upon his 

 grounds, and promote the growth of the young wood. Much 

 may be done by exempting standing forests from taxation, and 

 by imposing taxes on wood felled for fuel or for timber, some- 

 thing by more stringent provisions against trespasses on forest 

 property, and something by premiums or honorary distinctions 

 for judicious management of the woods ; and, in short, in this 

 matter rewards rather than punishments must be the incentives 

 to obedience even to a pohcy of enhghtened self-interest. It 

 might be difficult to induce governments, general or local, to 

 make the necessary appropriations for such purposes, but there 

 can be no doubt that it would be sound economy in the end. 



In countries where there exist municipalities endowed with 

 an inteUigent pubhc spirit, the purchase and control of forests 

 by such corporations would often prove advantageous; and in 

 some of the provinces of Northern Lombardy, experience has 

 shown that such operations may be conducted with great benefit 

 to aU the interests connected with the proper management of the 

 woods. In Switzerland, on the other hand, except in some few 

 cases where woods have been preserved as a defence against 

 avalanches, the forests of the communes have been of little ad- 

 vantage to the pubhc interests, and have very generally gone to 

 decay.* The rights of pasturage, everywhere destructive to trees, 

 combined with toleration of trespasses, have so reduced their 

 value, that there is, too often, nothing left that is worth protect- 

 ing. In the canton of Ticino, the peasants have very frequently 

 voted to sell the town-woods and divide the proceeds among the 

 corporators. The sometimes considerable sums thus received are 

 squandered in wild revelry, and the sacrifice of the forests brings 

 not even a momentary benefit to the proprietors.f 



certainly, would not be the proper agent of the nation for this purpose. It 

 proved itself unable to protect the live-oak woods of Florida, which were in- 

 tended to be preserved for the use of the navy, and it more than once paid 

 contractors a high price for timber stolen from its own forests. The authori- 

 ties of the individual States might be more efficient. 



* A better economy has been of late introduced into the management of the 

 forest in Switzerland. Excellent official reports on the subject have been pub 

 lished, and important legal provisions adopted. 



f See in Berlepsch, Die Alpen, chapter Holzschldger und Flosser, a lively 

 account of the sale of a communal wood. 



