THE STATE FORESTS OF SAXONY. 37 



and more as a philanthropic organisation, the chief object of 

 which is to supply the people with as much as possible of the 

 particular kinds and sizes of timber they require, regardless of 

 the cost of production. The fine old Scots pine forests of East 

 Prussia, worked on a rotation of 120-150 years, the spruce woods 

 of the Harz Mountains with their 100-120 years' rotation, and 

 the many hardwood ranges scattered through Prussia managed 

 on much the same lines, demonstrate clearly that no thought is 

 paid to return on capital. To produce good timber and plenty 

 of it appears to be the axiom of the Prussian forester, and he does 

 not concern himself with soil expectation, or value calculations. 

 The capital value of the Prussian forests is not officially 

 published, but it probably averages considerably higher per acre 

 than that of the Saxon woods in spite of the less intensive form 

 of management, and the rate of interest which is yielded is 

 generally estimated at under a half per cent. Although the 

 Prussian Government will not countenance the open application 

 of the Bodenreinertrag theory to their forests, yet there are not 

 signs wanting to show that they are beginning slowly to 

 recognise that their woods are vastly over capitalised, and 

 everywhere there is a tendency to reduce rather than to lengthen 

 the period of rotation. The Bodenreinertrag^ it may be pointed 

 out, means the net returns on the soil after paying interest on 

 the working capital, whereas the Waldreinertrag, which is the 

 foundation of the Prussian theory of forest management, is the 

 return derived from the woods without any regard to the 

 interest it may be capable of paying on the capital invested. 

 The latter line of thought leads, of course, to one consideration 

 only, and that is how large an annual income can be obtained 

 from a forest, and is generally justified by the assertion that 

 land is a monopoly, and therefore it is the duty of every owner, 

 especially a State, to obtain the largest amount of produce 

 possible without regard to the invested capital. 



It has been necessary to refer to some other State besides 

 Saxony in order to demonstrate the two chief ideas prevailing 

 on the Continent, as regards this point, and Prussia makes the 

 most convenient comparison, as the two States are directly 

 opposed to each other on this particular question, and what 

 appears to be an endless controversy is carried on in German 

 forestry journals as to which party is right. As far as private 

 landowners are concerned, there is every inducement to follow 



