l80 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



and they are, as a rule, changed from their native districts to 

 new ones on being appointed, in order that they may carry more 

 authority, according to the maxim that "familiarity breeds 

 contempt." 



The woodmen are divided into two classes, permanent 

 woodmen and temporary woodmen. To become one of the 

 former a man is required to do more than six months' work 

 a year in the woods, and is required to pay towards his old 

 age pension. Temporary woodmen are those that are more or 

 less regularly taken on at certain periods when the permanent 

 staff is not sufficient to undertake the work. There are some 

 500 of these and about 3800 permanent woodmen, which is, 

 roughly speaking, taking both together, i man per 100 acres 

 and 40 men to every range. 



A feature of great importance in the administration of the 

 Saxon State forests is the Forsteinrichtiitigsanstalt or Working- 

 Plans Office, which is situated in Dresden. The duty of this 

 department is to make and revise working-plans in the State 

 woods, and in private woods, when asked, at a nominal charge. 

 In the case of private estates that are entailed, the amount of 

 timber to be cut, etc., every year is fixed exactly by the officers of 

 the Forsteinrichtungsanstalt, which guards against an extravagant 

 proprietor cutting more than the normal amount. The fact 

 that the working-plans are made and revised by special officers, 

 who have no other duty but to move from one range or Revier 

 to another carrying on the work, is undoubtedly an advance 

 upon the method usually employed in Prussia where the forest 

 officer revises his own working-plan and submits the revision 

 for approval to the inspecting officer. The continuity of plan 

 and uniformity of method obtained by the Working-Plans Office 

 in Dresden, which is so essential to the proper management 

 of woodlands, is unequalled in other German States. Men 

 working continually at the same work are bound to become 

 more expert at it than men doing it, say, every five years, 

 and the results are necessarily more uniform and consistent 

 than when every Forstmeister drew up his own revision. 

 However, the forest officer is not entirely ignored during the 

 revision, his local experience being of the greatest assistance 

 in many cases in deciding matters relating to planting, 

 cutting, etc., and he is required to furnish the working-plans' 

 officers with an estimate of what areas he thinks should be cut 



