FOREST SCIENCE. 



FOREST SCIENCE. 



162 



its bounds ; and that all judgments, &c., to the contrary shall be void ; 

 that no place where no justice-seat or other forest court had been held 

 within sixty years should be accounted forest ; and that commissions 

 should be issued for ascertaining the bounds of forests as they stood 

 in the 20th year of the preceding reign, aniirbeyond which they should 

 not thenceforth be extended. Since the passing of this Act, the old 

 forest laws may be considered as having been practically abolished, and 

 the offices connected with their administration and execution turned 

 into little better than sinecures. 



The Carta Forestac of Henry III. contains the following curious pro- 

 vision : " Whatsoever archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron, coming to 

 us at our commandment, passeth by our forest, it shall be lawful for 

 him to take and kill one or two of our deer, by view of our forester, if 

 he be present ; or else he shall cause one to blow an horn for him, that 

 he seem not to steal our deer ; and likewise they shall do returning 

 from us as it is aforesaid." As this law is still unrepealed, any bishop 

 or nobleman may shoot one or two of the deer if he should pass 

 through any of the royal forests in going to or returning from parlia- 

 ment. Hunting, it may be observed, was formerly so common or 

 universal an episcopal amusement, that the crown is still entitled, at 

 the death of every bishop, to have his kennel of hounds, or a com- 

 position in lieu thereof. Auckland Park, and certain other demesnes, 

 formerly held of the Bishop of Durham by forest services ; " par- 

 ticularly," says Camden, " upon his great huntings, the tenants in 

 these parts were bound to set up for him a field-house, or tabernacle, 

 with a chapel, and manners of rooms and offices ; as also to furnish 

 him with dogs and horses, and to carry his provision, and to attend 

 him during his stay for the supply of all conveniences. But now all 

 services of this kind are either let fall by disuse, or changed into 

 pecuniary payments." [GAME LAWS ; WOODS AND FORESTS.] 



FOREST SCIENCE, constitutes a separate and distinct branch of 

 education, which orignated in Germany from the increased scarcity of 

 wood. The first special instruction of this kind was given by Mr. 

 Zanthier at Ilsenburg, near the Harz forest, and its importance being 

 immediately appreciated, forest academies soon multiplied, particularly 

 in the central parts of the country. Prussia directed particular atten- 

 tion to the subject, and the late king Frederick, on coming to the 

 throne, ordered that, " in future, situations in the forest department 

 should be conferred with a view to the most perfect preservation of 

 the forests ; that the nominations should be founded on knowledge and 

 experience, and no longer granted as a recompense for service." In 

 consequence a new organisation took place, and competent instruction 

 in all things appertaining to the management of forests became a 

 necessary qualification for an appointment to any post in the forest 

 department. 



In the forest academies are taught botany generally, and particularly 

 as regards the ordinary productions of the forest, including vegetable 

 physiology, mineralogy, zoology, chemistry, surveying, mensuration, 

 mechanics, the methods of resisting the encroachments of sands, drain- 

 ing and embanking, together with the care and chase of game ; as also 

 the laws and regulations of forest administration. The examination 

 which the candidates undergo is very strict, and the result of the 

 system has been eminently beneficial. 



France has also a particular administration of the forests, and a very 

 detailed code of forest laws. Russia, from the immense extent of its 

 forests, is under little apprehension of a scarcity of wood, nevertheless 

 the consumption of this article is so enormous, all the houses of the 

 peasantry being built of it, and no other fuel being used, that it has 

 been deemed advisable to pay some attention to the subject, and a 

 board has been formed under the particular sanction of the government 

 for the better preservation of the forests and more general instruction 

 in forest science. 



Louis XIV., by an ordonnanct of 1669, placed the forests under the 

 direction of a separate branch of the government. Men of science 

 then began to turn their attention to this subject. Du Hamel du 

 Munceau and Buflbn were among the first naturalists who wrote on the 

 management of forest trees. 



The consideration of the various trees which may be cultivated to 

 advantage, and the uses to which their woods may be put, with the 

 mode of their propagation in various soils, form a branch of forest 

 science. 



The following is a list of the principal forest trees : 



The oak Quereut), and its varieties, the beech ( Payia ryhatica), the 

 hornbeam (Carpinus betuliu), the birch (Betula alba), the elm (Ulmtu), 

 the maple (Acer campettre), the alder (Betula alnut), the ash (Fraxinut 

 excelsior), the lime (Tilia tylceshi), the chestnut (Pagus caitanea), the 

 walnut (Juylan* regia), the crab (Pyrut malm), the wild cherry 

 (Pnmus arium), the mountain service (Sarbut aifcuparia), the service 

 (S'>rbu domestica), the aspin (Popului tremula), the white poplar (Pojnt- 

 lat alba), the common poplar (Popultu nigra), the Lombardy poplar 

 (Populus foititjiata), the sycamore (Acer pteudo-platamu), the plane 

 (Acer platanoidet), the hazel (itorylw tylveitris) , the sallow (Salijc 

 capraa), the osier (Salic viminalii), the pine (Pinut sylrettru), the 

 silver fir (Pin ux picea), the larch (Larix Eurapea). The wood of all 

 those trees U divided into three sorts : hard wood, white wood, resi- 

 wood. The German writers admit only two sorts of trees, the 

 lous and evergreen, but this is more a botanical division than one 

 applicable to forest-trees. 



ARTS AND SCI. BIV. VOL. IV. 



The uses to which the wood is applied vary very much, according to 

 circumstances and situations. The most profitable is that of timber 

 for buildings, and more particularly for naval architecture. The oak, 

 beech, elm, and fir, are the chief woods employed for this purpose ; but 

 the chesnut was at one time considered as equal to the oak, as the 

 roofs and beams of many old buildings testify ; Windsor castle among 

 the rest. For millwrights the ash, beech, service tree, walnut, and 

 crab, are most useful. For various utensils for the dairy and domestic 

 use, the sycamore, the lime, and the poplar, are used on account of the 

 whiteness of their wood. Various soft woods are used for turning, as 

 well as the hardest, when they have a close grain and are not apt 

 to split. 



When wood cannot be applied to building or domestic uses it is still 

 very valuable as fuel, and in this point of view it is important in those 

 countries where pit coal is not abundant. The best wood for fuel is 

 oak, and next to this beech. The harder the wood, in general, the 

 more heat it gives out in burning. The trunks of large trees, sawn 

 into convenient lengths and then split into billets, make the best fuel ; 

 but where wood is scarce it is found most profitable to cut down the 

 trees at the age of 30 or 40 years at most, when they have acquired a 

 considerable height of stem but no great girth. In the woods which 

 are planted for this purpose in France and Germany the trees are 

 drawn up by being left close together, and the side branches are kept 

 cut to the height of 30 or 40 feet, so that they only spread out at top, 

 and the trunk never acquires the size which it would if the tree stood 

 singly, and had roem to spread out its branches. 



In order to judge of the value of woods in different soils the follow- 

 ing table may be useful. It is calculated on the supposition that the 

 ground is covered with trees as much as it will bear. 



The cord here alluded to is 5 feet 6 inches in height, 8 feet long and 

 3 feet 6 inches wide, French measure, that is very nearly 6 feet high 

 8 feet 8 inches long, and 3 feet 10 inches wide, or 200 cubic feet 

 English measure. 



In the following table the tops made into charcoal and the faggots 

 are reduced to cords in the proportion of four and a half cords of 

 oharcoal-wood and 550 faggots for one cord of fire-wood. 



PRODUCE OF FIRE-WOOD PER ACRE, AT DIFFERENT AGES, IN CORDS. 



Age of Trees. 

 Years. 



10 



15 



20 



25 



30 



35 



40 



50 



60 



70 



80 



90 

 100 

 120 

 140 

 150 

 200 

 250 

 300 



On Poor 

 Soils. 



2 



21 



33 



Middling 

 Soils. 



81 



5 

 9 



13; 



16 



21 



244 



31 



374 



414 



46 



484 



51 



57 



62 



64 



67 



60 



55 



Good Soils. 



44 

 9 



15 



21 



27 



35 



42 



56 



70 



80 



90 



96 

 102 

 114 

 124 

 128 

 135 

 120 

 110 



This table is the result of 1 careful measurement of woods cut down 

 at different ages; and it shows that the maximum in poor soils is 

 attained in 35 years, in middling and good soils at 200. But it also 

 shows that the increase of wood per cent, in ten years is greatest from 

 20 to 30 in poor soils, from 40 to 50 in middling soils, and from 70 to 

 80 in good soils : so that it never can be profitable to allow any wood 

 which is to be used for fuel to stand above 80 years. 



In good soils at thirty-five years growth the wood in the tree has 

 increased one cord per acre each year ; and the rate of growth increases 

 till the nineteenth year, after which it begins to diminish. But it 

 must also be taken into the account that wood of the age of 70, 80, 

 and 90 years is of far greater specific gravity than that of 25 or 30 ; 

 and consequently the increase in bulk in ten years, from 80 to 90, 

 produces more fuel than the mere measure indicates. On good soils 

 oaks and beech will continue to increase for 200 years ; but in poor 

 soils they do not thrive after thirty-five years, and then they begin to 

 waste. 



Preparatory to making a plantation of any extent it is necessary to 

 establish a nursery to raise plants ; for although trees which are raised 

 from seed and have never been moved become much larger and finer 

 than those which are transplanted, it will be found on calculation 

 that a quick return is much more profitable ; and as a matter of 

 economy trees which have been raised in a nursery and transplanted 

 arrive sooner at a certain growth than those which are sown on the 

 spot where they are to remain. 



The ground chosen for a nursery should not have a better soil than 

 that in which the plants are finally to be placed, because, in that ease, 

 they would most likely suffer, if not perish altogether. The surface 



