8 Science and Teaching of Forestry. 



the present ideal method of German forest administration. On this system 

 each two or three thousand acres is considered in all respects as a separate 

 forest. In the case of each of these a period or rotation is agreed upon 

 varying with the species of tree, 200 years for oak, 120 to 150 for beech and 

 Scotchfir, and the forest is divided into as many blocks as there are years 

 in the rotation. These blocks may be equal in area, or may vary with the 

 productiveness of the soil, so as to equalise the yield. They are then 

 subdivided into four, five, or six compartments, to each of which a sub- 

 period of about thirty years is assigned. About one-fifth of the trees on one- 

 sixth of the subdivision will be felled each year, some additional thinnings 

 being necessarily carried on over the whole area continuously. The theory of 

 this system is that we should follow closely the practice of nature. The 

 young trees will draw each other up till they reach their maximum height, 

 which will be when they are about half their full age. In nature the 

 struggle for existence leads to the survival of the fittest ; whilst in this 

 system of forestry we fell the least vigorous trees, giving light to the 

 others, whose stems will increase in diameter when they have ceased to 

 lengthen, but have more room to spread their heads. In this way the 

 seedlings are sheltered, no part of the forest being ever completely cleared. 



It has been objected to this method that trees transplanted from a 

 nursery have been shown experimentally to yield more timber than natural 

 seedlings ; but it may be doubted whether this difference is sufficient to 

 counterbalance the loss of productiveness from not having the two crops on 

 the ground simultaneously, the old trees still adding wood while the seed- 

 lings are growing up under their shade, and the seedlings beginning life 

 some years earlier, before their predecessors are fully matured. My private 

 opinion at present is in favour of the system of clearing and planting in 

 coniferous plantations, such as those of Scotland ; but of the German 

 natural system in deciduous forests. 



Whatever system is followed, it is as essential that the forester should 

 have an accurate survey of the forest, an estimate of the amount of timber 

 it contains, and of its annual increase, and a working plan of operations as 

 it is for the farmer to be acquainted with the acreage and soil of his farm, 

 and the number and weight of his cattle. 



The aim and principles of forestry and agriculture are the same, namely, 

 the greatest productiveness of the soil. They differ only in the crops raised. 

 Neither is a distinct branch of pure science ; they are both applications of the 

 principles of various sciences to the practice of an art. In both, therefore, 

 our motto must be, " Practice with science." Whilst no amount of book- 

 learning or lecture-hearing will make a forester, the mere unassisted following 

 of the rule-of- thumb routine of practical forest work, or trusting to one's own 

 unaided powers of observation and inference, can seldom make a good 

 forester, and never a good forest administrator. Hence the need for forest 

 schools. 



The first forest schools were those of Hartig and Cotta, which were super- 

 seded about the year 1820 by State academies in nearly all the German 

 states. These are now being re-organised under the central government. 

 In 1824 France followed the lead of Germany by establishing the forest 

 school at Nancy, to the labours of the directors and staff of which, Lorenz, 

 Parade, Nanquette, Bagneris, and Broillard, we owe very much. There 

 are now forest schools in all the principal states of Europe. In Germany 

 there are eight ; viz., Eisenach in Saxe Weimar, Tharant near Dresden, 

 Neustadt Eberswald, near Berlin, Miinden in Hanover, Giessen in Hesse, 

 Carlsruhe in Baden, Hohenheim near Stuttgart, and Aschaffenburg in 



