14 ' 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



FORESTRY IN GERMANY. 



BY HENRY C. POST. 

 ' ' 8 ' "' 



and speeches full of theorie nd suMestions 

 experimenting in a tentative manner in various 

 isolated localities, and giving indications that 

 forestry is getting ready to commence to be- 

 old Germany acr, Sa the water is develop- 

 uu the most splendid forest., in the world 



While thi, country is making political cap- 

 ital out of the personal tends and squabbles 

 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. 



politics, no friction, no bombast or 

 bragging in the German "Forstamt? Quietly 

 Following out practical as well the dteore- 

 tical lines m co-operation with university study 

 and field or forest practice the results are 

 what might be expected-somethmg wonder- 



Durinc . the , ev ..,,, . lifB 



student e as a 



? litM 7 summer s a - 



T T" P f t , Wurt - 

 found this an 



n^^m MC'" u e^l^te:, Wl NI,^.^ r hT 

 ing was less 



U art where 1 wen ?"** St " U " 



It was here he headmiar ers of"o f th- 

 offices of the kingdom of 



" 



rivr .-it that proficiency entitling a man to be 

 a fc.rstinan. Xext he becomes an oberforster 

 after years of activity (including military ser- 



?A$ 1A* his life has been devoted 

 "> .^calling, the forest man has probably 

 arrived at such a condition of competency and 

 prospective opulence that the department al- 

 ows h ! m . t . hc P"v.lege of marrying and rais- 



'" a tarnllv ' ' .. 



According to German tradition this tamily 



eventually becomes ForstleHte (forest people), 



J ' ls t , or < hls and f ma "y other co ^ nt Basons 

 that the German forestry >ystem has reached 

 a .>>* of success that never can be at- 

 S^ e f al ," ',' evcr even be hoped for in 

 thls land here . a . "nehot-Ballinger contro- 

 v S. rsv 1S thc P nncl P al trult of departmental 

 efficiency. 



^ n oberforstmai. (upper forest man) does 

 t necessarily have to have his house and 



g l j '^^^'"tter'of 7 this 'officnV who 



nder his n , 



,i v |/ in a goo house i " he vilhge an N ,' 

 ^U a ^ Member of socLty 



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 . 



] " the Kirchheim offi <- a " a te record 

 ;md description is kept in the bookkeeping 

 department of every tree in this particular 

 Jurisdiction. Its ago, condition, quality, value, 

 etc " can alwa y s be referred to.' The forstmen 



mirse<1 fost " e<1 " ke 



and more populous districts of the I'nitcd 

 States Mmie such system of forest culture. 

 may be successfully adopted. This govern- 



^^^0"^ of^lrefs pf^intabitfj 



Unprotected, terrify c.uceutrate,, effor! i 

 well nigh impossible. And as 1< ng as tre 

 graft and insatiable greed of the lumber king 

 slaughters the uitts of nature only to leave 

 the denuded land in hope ess desolation, ju-t 

 so long may we expert he constant menace 

 of forest fires and desert clknate. 



After my nve-stigations and experiences M 

 the heart of the Suabian reservations it Ftrikw 

 me that our forest department is as yet the 

 substance of things hoped for. and too much 

 tangled up with politics and gratt to give very 

 good results for a Inn- time to come 



STATE REVENUES FROM NATIONAL 

 FORESTS. 



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

 S - Department of Agriculture announces, the :.<:, 

 per cent of National Forest revenue which will gd 

 to the States for road and school purposl 

 amounted to $506,194.84. This was $67. 

 more than last year, or an increase of little over 

 per cent. The payments are an offset to the 

 'ss of income from taxable property sustained 

 through withdrawal of the forest laud [rod 

 -try under the 'public land laws. 



The amounts which will go to tr- v.-rior 

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

 Arkansas, $2,904.44; California, $80.752.91: Col- 

 orado. $50,306.19. F'onda, $7.16.38: Idaho. 



--_. _ -..,-.....,,,,. 3t tile 1 1 i L i v 



. where . 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. 

 I shall never fcrget my introduction to the 

 forest people when I first took up mv abode 

 in Kirchheim. They are a branch of society 

 in themselves, and hold themselves as quite 

 the aristocracy in a little town like Kirchheim 

 m the Suabian mountains. 



Wurttemberg^ university is at Tuebingen 

 there, of course, was where the scientific 

 head ot the kingdom's forestry office was lo- 

 cated, though the business headquarters was 

 at the royal parliament in Stuttgart Here the 

 twelve member, of the office of forest couti- 

 Stamt) meet at regular intervals and 

 the koenigliche forstrath" (king's counselor 

 ach ,,f the twelve is titled) is the higher 

 officer in the department. He is ju.-t as hi-h 

 and important as one of the counsel in finance 



>mmerce. 



Prof, Holland, lecturer on forestry at Ti-e- 



-n and Forstrath as well, was oflr host at 



the gesellschafr (party) of forest pe. pie and 



there that my eyes were first opened 



to the dignity and importance oi the German 



system. 



It was a curious coincidence to me -i- in 

 American when , sauntering through the fine 



the huge 



rpoi beams the dzrte c< mmcmorating the erec- 

 the structure (1492) cai p and 



.';'"'!'-. attention to the record and he said 

 Ja! ja! my house is ae old as your land of 



.\menkali. 



T1 ". I Old beech and maple 



u ' ;ir Klr ' ' arc more extensive th-m 



have in this part , I Michigan. 



rtable 



:. ",, have 



d to become forstmen spend a year at 

 a .time guarding their charge; prunina, trim- 

 studying and , itudying their 

 '- their next examination at the 

 1 T ( 7' U Jhenanotl ,,,, . ,, u . 

 try and the scientific studies 

 for UK- theoretical side' ,,f their edu 

 cation. 



And thus these would), ,s have to 



alternate for etween | C raf( and 



the life m the universitj befon they can ar- 



When it is desirable or advisable to cut 

 down one of the valuable old giants the pro- 

 ceeds go to help build a schoolhouse or re- 

 duce taxes. Nothing is lost or wasted. 



If a storm plays havoc, as sometimes hap- 

 pens, and trees are broken and limbs brought 

 down, the forstleute are soon on the spot: 

 the valuable timber is promptly cared for and 

 then the poor of the community are turned 

 in. And what a harvest of faggots they get. 

 The wounded and sick trees are patched and 

 bandaged and doctored and net a vestige of 

 the storm's debris remains to be seen. 



It used in astonish me often when en my 

 walking trips I would find myself in a dense 

 forest of large trees and suddenly note that 

 they were growing in rows. The Germans 

 have been planting forests for such a long 

 time that many such forests begin to look 

 almost primeval. 



At Heidelberg in northern Wurttemberg 

 there is a mountain stretch of extensive refor- 

 estation. One gets a view of fields from one 

 to ten miles in extent with sharp lines cf de- 



will he covered with a growth of 

 . -<-ids. another with trees twenty years 

 ... and all as smooth and even as thi' 'Tain 

 on one of our extensive Dakota wheat 

 raches. 



I remember once lying down to rest in 

 a very old forest on thc banks of the Neckar 

 and IK ting that those castanian trees seemed 



gon, $39.635.87; South Dakota. $9. 808 "3: i 

 $32.905.49: Washington, $23.671.89; Wyon 



Xote worthy is the especially heavv incre;i 

 over t^e amounts last year in certain stat 

 In California the amount rose by over :2."> 

 cent, in Idaho by over 35 per" ceni and 

 Oregon by nearly 50 per cent. The increaj 

 nre the result of increased activity in Natic 

 Forest timber sales in these States an' 1 

 an earnest of what will happen as the timl: 

 supply which the Government is carinc 

 comes into full demand. Since the cut 

 timber will always be limited to what 

 will keen on growing, the income 

 will be permanent, not transit! 

 as wr-uld have been the case if hasty and im- 

 provident exploitation had been permit 

 According to the calculations of the. D< 

 meiit of Agriculture officials the St 

 eventually receive many times what the fn 

 ests are now yielding them, for there ic 

 vet on the whole only a very restricted 

 mand for the Government's timber. 



The above is of interest to all our 

 and shows how ready the i>i" pie an 

 to anv aceressive section if it onlv "hu-; 

 Tt _a!so shows how little' reason tin 

 politicians have to complain of the nat-" 

 or is it merely a matter of ? 



>- i" vn^over that these huge old mon- 

 arch s were grown in rows. When did Ger- 

 many forestry begin, anyway? 



It was my peculiar good fortune duriti" sev- 

 eral years of student life in Germany to be 

 thrown much among the forstleute of south- 

 ern Wurttemberg and nowhere have ] met 

 < "'ore hospitable, congenial and thoroughly 

 delie'htrul lot of people. Their education on 

 their subject i s complete both theoretically 

 and practically. There is absolutely no poli- 

 tics in German forestry. It is entirely a ques- 

 tion ol education, training and fitness. 



In a densely populated country like Furope 

 s comprehensive system of fores) cultiva 



STUDENTS GO LUMBERING. 



On December 27 thc entire senior f< 



tical course in timber estimating and mi 

 at De Ward, in the north woods. Tw 

 three men with Professor T. Fred P.ak< 

 th<- forestry department ' making the trio.- 



Evenings will be spent in studying f 

 civil service examination which < 

 Mnrch. probably at Lansing. 



Whi'e in camp lectures will be dc'ucrcd 

 practical phases of the vvrk bv R. S. KelH 

 of the forest service. On the return trip 

 da} 'vill be -pent in Bnv City in inspecting 

 wod manufacturing plants in that cif\ 



The rlas sneni an afternoon at the In,, 

 yard of the Hall Lumber Companv. SUP 

 mentitlf their class work bv actual < bs 

 lion. , : f kinds and quality of lumber. 





'7" 1 LJ* W k Perta P a '" * ''im future 

 when conditions become stringent in the older 



Tt is estimated that 20 miles of good ro 

 will be built in Kent county in 1911. 



