44 I'RANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIKTY. 



be seen that by conducting forests on rational lines and doing 

 away with irregular fellings, an enormous impetus is given 

 to local wood-converting industries. Local industry means 

 local population, which in turn brings local wealth, which again 

 is the cause of higher prices for wood and often gives rise to 

 a market for certain hitherto unsaleable products. 



However, when facilities for transport develop to such an 

 extent as one finds them in Saxony, industries become less 

 dependent upon local supplies of raw material, the limit of 

 their development being no longer bounded by the extent of 

 material available in the district and, as is often the case, they 

 expand to such an extent that large imports from abroad are 

 necessary to meet their demands. No better example of this 

 could be found than the wood-pulp and cellulose factories of 

 Saxony. Commencing by the conversion of local supplies 

 only, they have grown into an enormous industry, importing 

 wood to the extent of hundreds of thousands of tons annually, 

 which they require, in addition to the supplies available at 

 home, in order to keep pace with the demands for the converted 

 product. A large proportion of the wood thus imported into 

 Saxony is floated down the Elbe, in rafts, from Bohemia and 

 is converted by the factories situated on the banks of the 

 river. 



Among the many and varied industries directly dependent 

 upon the forests for their raw material is one which is particularly 

 interesting, and that is the toy-making industry of the Erzgebirge. 

 Here, in the heart of the mountains, one finds small villages, 

 such as Seiffen and Heidelberg, given over entirely to the 

 production of children's toys, and it is interesting to see over 

 one of the factories and watch the processes by which the raw 

 logs of spruce are turned into all sorts of wooden animals and 

 other playthings. In some cases merely the roughest part of 

 the work is done in the factory, the finishing off and painting 

 being executed in the homes of the workers themselves, in 

 which case the women and children take a large share in the 

 labour. 



Although very little is left of the Eichenschdlwald (oak 

 coppiced for bark), still a fair amount of spruce, which is cut 

 in spring and early summer, can be profitably barked, five 

 shillings being obtained per 35 stacked cubic feet, which only 

 costs two shillings to strip. 



