990 



evidently between the Directors of Mines and Forests a community of 

 interest. The whole forests of the district weie measured and esti- 

 mated in 1820 ; and this process takes place every thirty years. The 

 superficial extent of the Hartz forests is at present upwards of 451,000 

 acres ; they were formerly much more extensive, but have been gra- 

 dually diminished by storms, dry-rot, and, above all, by mismanage- 

 ment ; an unaccountable lavishness in the supply of wood to the 

 peasantry, and to the mines and forges, having tended to produce a 

 marked disproportion between the production and the demand. In 

 1524 and 1554, among other privileges and immunities granted to the 

 Hartz and its inhabitants, the mines, and works therewith connected, 

 were allowed (gratuitously !) the wood necessary for building and 

 burning ; and the inhabitants, on payment of a nominal forest-tax, 

 were permitted to cut down according to their wants. The result of 

 such a generous expenditure of timber was, as might have been fore- 

 seen, such an amount of its consumption, that it speedily became evi- 

 dent to every one that an opposite line of conduct, or preservative 

 measures, were urgently called for. The iron-forges alone consume 

 (annually !) 12,083,810 cubic feet of coal, and the various mines and 

 smelting-works upwards of 29,500,000 cubic feet of wood. 



" We may shortly notice the circumstances which tend to the 

 destruction of the Hartz forests : — 



" 1. Mismanagement (lavish expenditure of wood, mal-culture, &c.) 

 This cause, which has been a fertile source of mischief in times by- 

 gone, is becoming less and less frequent every day, from the better 

 ideas instilled into the Government, on matters of political and social 

 -economy. 



" 2. Storms. The exceedingly violent hurricanes and snow-storms 

 so prevalent in the Hartz, are very hurtful, especially to the pines, 

 which frequently grow in loose, rocky, gravelly, or sandy soils, to 

 which their roots do not adhere very firmly. After every severe storm, 

 we can see thousands of fine, tall pines torn up by the roots, scattered 

 about in wild confusion. We probably do not over state when we say 

 that not less than 25,000 pines are annually destroyed in the Upper 

 Hartz by the wind alone. The great storms of 1800 and 1801 tore 

 up, in the neighbourhood of Elbingerode alone, 315,106 trees; thus 

 at once destroying the produce of 3000 acres of forest-land. Accu- 

 mulations of snow and ice, floods and torrents, lightning, &c., also 

 contribute to thin the forests. Avalanches are particularly mischie- 

 vous on the mountains, and in the mountain-valleys, often clearing 



