15 



These results have been obtained in Prussia along with almost ideal 

 technical success. When what is wanted is a sustained yield from the 

 forest year by year in the long run, it is clearly necessary to have always 

 a certain number of trees ready to be cut; there must be a proper pro- 

 portion of trees of all ages. This percentage has been secured and main- 

 tained with almost mathematical accuracy. 



In Saxony, which has about 430,000 acres of State forests, the in- 

 crease of cut under forest management, which always means also a cor- 

 responding increase in wood produced, has been nearly as marked as in 

 Prussia. The yield rose 55 per cent, between 1820 and 1904, and is now 

 93 cubic feet per acre, greater than that of the Prussian forests. Since 

 the chief wood is spruce, which yields more saw timber than the average 

 of trees making up the Prussian forests, the increase in the percentage 

 of saw timber in Saxony naturally exceeds the increase in Prussia. It 

 increased from 26 per cent, in 1830 to 66 per cent, in 1904. The net 

 yearly revenue is $5.30 per acre. The yearly expense is $3 per acre. 



These figures are in striking contrast with the corresponding ones 

 for the United States. We spent on our national forests last year 9 T 3 5 mills 

 per acre, and our net revenue from them was less than J mill per acre. 



The rise in prices, felt everywhere, accounts only in part for the in- 

 creased financial returns from forestry in these two States; for, while 

 the prices have not quite trebled, the revenue has been multiplied ten- 

 fold. 



Other German States, smaller, and with better kinds of timber and 

 better market facilities, secure even higher returns. The forests of Wiirt- 

 temberg yield a net annual revenue of nearly $6 per acre, and those of 

 several smaller administrations do even better. 



A number of the private forests of Germany are managed with great 

 success. As a result of a canvass of 15,600,000 acres of State, municipal 

 and private forests, it was found that the average net revenue per acre, 

 from good, bad and indifferent land, was $2.40 a year. 



What, then, has forestry done in Germany? Starting with forests 

 which were in as bad shape as many of our own which have been reck- 

 lessly cut over, it raised the average yield of wood per acre from 20 cubic 

 feet in 1830 to 65 cubic feet in 1904. During the same period of time it 

 trebled the proportion of saw timber got from the average cut; which 

 means, in other words, that through the practice of forestry the timber- 

 lands of Germany are of three times better quality to-day than when 

 no system was used. And in fifty-four years it increased the money 

 returns from an average acre of forest sevenfold. 



Yet to-day the forests are in better condition than ever before, and 

 under the present system of management it is possible for the German 

 foresters to say with absolute certainty that the high yield and large 

 returns which the forests now give will be continued indefinitely into the 

 future. 



