176 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARIiORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



as a whole, clearly demonstrates the greater preponderance of 

 conifer woods in the former — 



History. — Although the State forests only came into existence 

 as such in 1831, being previous to that date the private property 

 of the king, considerable strides had been made with their 

 systematic management before they were handed over to the 

 State. In 183 1 King Antony declared the Royal Kammergut 

 to be the property of the State, retaining however the hunting 

 rights for his own exclusive use. In exchange for this sacrifice 

 of revenue he was granted a " Civil List," which although since 

 increased has not increased so rapidly as the returns which 

 are obtained from the State forests ; and the bargain has turned 

 out to be, from a financial point of view, a considerable loss 

 to the reigning monarch. 



The present king, although a very keen sportsman, is of 

 course unable to shoot nearly all the stags and other deer 

 which must be slain annually, and up till quite recently it 

 was the practice for each Forstnieister to hunt and shoot in 

 his own forest {Revi'er), except in those few which formed 

 the particular hunting woods of the king. However, in 191 2 

 this was changed, and all the game now goes to the State, 

 the Forstnieister merely retaining the right to kill it. 



The scientific management of the Saxon State forests may 

 be said to date from the latter half of the eighteenth century, 

 when Oberforstmeister von Lussberg made a very extensive survey 

 of the woods (1764-17 7 7). However, it was not until the 



