212 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
27. Encouragement of Private Forestry. 
By Professor SCHWAPPACH. (Translated by A. W. BortTHwick, D.Sc.) 
I have been asked to contribute an article to the Zramsactions, 
and in selecting a subject suitable to Scottish conditions I cannot 
do better than describe a case where the principle “help your- 
self” has been applied in German private forestry with the most 
satisfactory results. 
Although German proprietors take much more interest in the 
welfare of their forests than English or Scottish proprietors, still 
the condition of the woods on small and medium-sized German 
estates leaves much to be desired, and the education of those in 
charge of the smaller forests is frequently very rudimentary and 
incomplete. Within the last eight years two important measures 
have been adopted to bring about an improvement. The one 
consists in the creation of a Forestry Department in the Boards of 
Agriculture, which is composed of specially trained forest experts ; 
the other is the formation of the Society of Private Foresters of 
Germany. I will perhaps on another occasion deal with the 
result of the Forestry Department of the Board of Agriculture ; 
at the present time I will describe the Society and its work. 
In the spring of 1903 the Society was formed in Berlin. The 
editor of the Deutschen Forstzeitung, Herrn Neumann, of 
Neudamm, led the movement, and also bore the initial expense. 
To begin with, the Society was composed of foresters and a few 
gentlemen interested in forestry matters, but soon forest pro- 
prietors also recognised the importance of this Society, and 
became members, so that the work of the Society is now carried 
on by a very gratifying combination of forest proprietors and 
their foresters. ‘The number of members at the present time is 
about 2200. ‘Those foresters with an income not above 2000 
marks per annum pay 3 marks; the rest pay 5 marks as 
a yearly subscription. Forest proprietors pay too marks on 
joining, and an annual subscription of at least 5 marks. The 
affairs of the Society are managed by a special and a general 
committee. The special committee consists of two foresters and 
a forest proprietor. The general committee consists of fifteen 
members, of whom six are foresters and six forest proprietors, 
the other three being extraordinary members (professors, experts), 
