14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



FORESTRY IN GERMANY. 



BY HENRY C. POST. 



i vl -i i TT i c* f 



While the Lmted States is do ng a vast 



lf y det - 



rive at that proficiency entitling a man to be and more populous districts of the United 



a fi.rstiiian. Next he becomes an oberforster States some such system of forest culture 



after years of activity (including military ser- may be successfully adopted. This govern- 



vice, of course). ment seems to be waking up. But with trc 



about half his life has been devoted present condition of vast areas of uninhabited. 



to his calling, the forest man has probably unprotected territory concentrated effort is 



" 





< 



this country is making political cap- 

 arising among the officials of this newly-cre- 

 ated government enterprise, scientific Germany 

 is working along harmoniously, practically, 

 unerringly and has been -for over a hundred 

 years in her wonderful work. 



No politics, no friction, no bombast or 

 bragging in the German "Forstamt" Quietly 

 following put practical as well as the theore- 

 tical lines in co-operation with university study 

 and field or forest practice the results are 

 what might be expected something wonder- 

 ful. 



During the several years of my life as a 

 student in Germany two entire summer sea- 

 sons were passed in a little town of Wurt- 

 temburg called Kirchheim. I found this an 

 exceptionally happy place in which to pursue 

 my music studies unmolested. Moreover, liv- 

 ing was less expensive than in nearby Stutt- 

 gart, where I went for my lessons. 



It was here, the headquarters of one of the 

 twelve forestry offices of the kingdom of 

 Wurttemberg, that I managed to pick up a 

 fairly good . comprehension of the policy and 

 practice of German forestry. The young men 

 who were my daily companions at the little 

 Gasthaus where I lived were mostly serving 

 their apprenticeship in forest huts or in the 

 offices in the village. Their forest life and 

 duties were the basis of constant conversation. 



forest people when I first took up m 

 in Kirchheim. They are a branch of 

 in themselves, and hold themselves as quite 



It is for this and many other cogent reasons 

 that the German forestry system has reached 

 a condition of success that never can be at- 

 tained and never can even be hoped for in 

 this land where a Pinchot-Ballinger contro- 

 versy is the principal fruit of departmental 

 efficiency. 



An oberforstman (upper forest man) does 

 not necessarily have to have his house and 

 family located in the depths of an extensive 

 forest. As a matter of fact this official, who 

 has a great many men under his ccmmand. 

 lives in a good house in the village and is an 

 important member of society. 



In Kirchheim I remember Oberforster Jager 

 lived in one of the best houses and took orders 

 from no one except Prof. Holland, who had 

 command of half the extensive forests of south- 

 ern Wurttemberg. 



In the Kirchheim offices an accurate record 

 and description is kept in the bookkeeping 

 department of every tree in this particular 

 jurisdiction. Its ago. condition, quality, value, 

 etc., can always be Deferred to. The forstmen 

 ntly watching, guarding and tending 

 rees. If a tree is sick and needs par- 

 attention it is nursed and fostered like 

 a sick animal. 



\Vhen it is desirable or advisable to cut 

 down 



After my investigations and. experience.- in 

 the heart of the Suabian reservations it strikes 

 me that our forest department is as yet "the 

 substance of things hoped for," and too much 

 tangled up with politics and graft to give very 

 good results for a long time to come. 



STATE REVENUES FROM NATIONAL 

 FORESTS. 



For the fiscal vear ending June 30 last, the U. 

 S - l^partment of Agriculture announces, th, 

 per cent of National Forest revenue which will*.. 

 to the States for road and school purposes 

 amounted to $506,194.84. This was $67,492.0:! 



morc than Iast vear > or an increase of Htt1 ' 

 P" cent. The payments are an offset to the 

 loss of income from taxable property sustained 

 through withdrawal of the forest land from 

 entry under the'public land laws. 



The amounts which will po to th- v ? rio.- 

 Stat are as follows: Arizona, $51,229.38; 

 Arkansas, $2,904.44; California. $60.752.91 ; Col- 

 orado. $50,306.19; Florida, $706.38; Idaho. $66.- 

 074.55; Kansas $1.004.67: Minnesota. $457.37; 

 Montana. $83,67838; Nebraska, $2,8?0.25; Xe- 

 vada. $16314.33; New Mexico. $28.529.53 

 North Dakota . $ 63 .r,4; Oklahoma, $626 10: Ore- 

 eon, $39.635.87; South Dakota. $9.808 P 3 ; Utah. 



h " 



_ mountains. 



Wurttemberg's university is at Tuebingen 

 and there, of course, was where the scientific 

 head of the kingdom's forestry office was lo- 

 cated, though the business headquarters was 



twelve members of the office of forest coun- 



as each of the twelve is titled) is the highest 

 officer in the department. He is just as high 

 and important as me of the counsel in finance 



Prof. Holland, 



d t Nothinc- is lost or wnsted 



if a storm D H, '' h,\V - I o ne imes h-no 

 *>' "d T^Tre broken VTSSStaJK 

 d th f ors tleute ire soon the snof 



tt valuable timbe"' is pn.nptlv care 1 or "ami 

 th tll f t , communkv i 



'" And ^hat ^hSve^t ofTa"t ^ 

 Th o d , , , . ** 



h a ld ao c and ^^0^1 nd , t a vetie o 

 he storm's debris remihis t be s 

 tn "" \ n astonish me often whe n . ! m- 

 ' 



Noteworthy is the especially heaw ncrease 

 ^ ver tVe amounts last year in certain states. 

 T " California the amount rose by over 25 pe, 

 cent - In Idaho by over 35 per cent and m 

 Oregon by neari/50 per cen . .The increases 

 ;<re tlle result of increased activity in National 

 Fort timber sales in these StLe" anH ; 

 an earnest of what wi happen as the timber 

 "'PPb" which the Government is carinc Fo- 

 c omes into full demand. Since the cut of 



timher wi ^^ ^ "mited to what the 

 ffl ^sts will keen "on growing, the income to 



they were growing 



have been planting .,^. J 



time that many such forests begin to 



almost primeval. 



At Heidelberg in northern Wurttemberg 

 there is a mountain stretch of extensive refor- 

 estation. One gets a view of fields from one 

 f " *"" ''"- in extent with sharp lines of de- 



as wruld have been the case if hasty and im- 

 provident exploitation had been permitted. 

 According to the calculations of the. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture officials the St-^s >v ; U 

 eventually receive many times what the for- 

 ests arc now yielding them, for there is as 

 vet on the whole only a very restricted dc- 



of the German 



it 



to the ( 



M .-tern. 



It was a curious 



i when in s.n.nn.v.iiii s miuuun tne nne 

 old house I saw carved on cue of the huge 

 rooi beams the date commemorating the erec- 

 tion of the structure (1492) carved deep and 

 itrong on the pine beam. I called Prof Hol- 

 lands attention to the record and he said 



\merik : ih n " V ^ '* ^ M RS y Ur land of 



There are forests of old beech and maple 

 near kirchlieini that are more extensile than 

 anything we have i,, this part of Michigan. 

 In the ,'e,,,hs ol the woods are comfortable 



ted TV COUp V f y u K men who have 



elected to become forstmen spend a year at 



;< t,m, Boarding their charge; pruning, trim- 



n g, studying and evenings studying their 



< for their next examination at the 



u 7-<7't>-- , rhl < vear for then, t e 



school For chemistry and the scientific studies 



'*y !O T < l! <- theoretical side of .heir edu- 



Anri thus these wouldbe foresters have to 

 alternate tor year, between woodcraft and 

 the l.fe m the university before they can ar 



shows how 



reason the western 



old and al] as smooth am] cvcn as 



" one of our extensive Dakota wheat P ol ! tlc ! ans to complain of the nation 



I remember once lying down to rest in 

 a very old forest on the banks of the Neckar 

 and noting that those castanian trees seemed 

 about 200 years old. Next instant I was sur- 

 prised to discover that these huge old mon- 

 archs were grown in rows. When did Ger- 

 many forestry begin, anyway? 



It was my peculiar good fortune during sev- 

 eral years of student life in Germany to be 

 thrown much among the forstleute of south-, 

 ern Wurttemberg and nowhere have I met 

 a more hospitable, congenial and thoroughly 

 delightful lot of people. Their education on 

 their subject is complete both theoretically 

 and practically. There is absolutely no .poli- 

 tics in German forestry. It is entirely a ques- 

 tion of education, training and fitness. 



In a densely populated country like Europe 

 this comprehensive system of forest cultiva- 

 tion serves as a model for any nation to fol- 

 low. It i- immensely profitable from every 

 point of view. Perhaps in the dim future 

 when conditions become stringent in the older 



STUDENTS GO LUMBERING. 



On December 27 the entire senior fore-try 

 cjass of M. A. C. began a three weeks' prac- 

 tical course in timber estimating and milling 

 at De Ward, in the north woods. Twenty- 

 three men with Professor T. Fred Raker of 

 tlT> fore-try department I making the trio.- 



Evenings will be spent in studying for the 

 <-ivil service examination which occurs in 

 Mnrch. probably at Lansing. 



Whi'e in camp lectures will be delivered on 

 practical phases of the w^rk bv R. S. Kellogg 

 of the forest service. On the return trip a 

 day will be soent in Rav City in inspecting the 

 w^nd manufacturing plants in that citv. 



The rla = s snent ,n n afternoon at the lumber 

 yard of the Hall Lumber Company, supple- 

 menting their class work bv actual observa- 

 tions of kinds and quality of lumber. 



It is estimated that 20 miles of good roads 

 will be built in Kent county in 1911. 



