14 



was relieved by the coming of the railroads, which opened up new forests, 

 and by the use of coal, which substituted a new fuel for wood, the warning 

 was heeded, and systematic State forestry was begun. After all, the 

 scare was not a false one, for even to-day Germany is not independent 

 as regards wood, since she has to import one-sixth of all she uses. 



In addition to the wood-supply question, Germany was forced to 

 undertake forestry by the need of protecting agriculture and stream 

 flow. The troubles which France was having with her mountain tor- 

 rents opened the eyes of the Germans to the dangers from floods in their 

 own land. As a result, the maintenance of protective forests was pro- 

 vided for by Bavaria in 1852, by Prussia in 1875, and by Wurttemberg 

 in 1879. 



Each State of the German federation administers its own forests. 

 All of the States practise forestry with success. The results obtained 

 by Prussia and Saxony are particularly interesting, for they show how 

 forests may be kept constantly improving under a S3 r stem of manage- 

 ment which yields a handsome profit. 1 



The Prussian forests, covering nearly 7,000,000 acres, are made up 

 much as if we should combine the pineries of the Southern States with 

 the forests of some of our Middle Atlantic and Central States. When 

 forestry was begun, a great part of them had been injured by mismanage- 

 ment, much as our forests have been, and the Prussian foresters had to 

 solve the problem of improving the run-down forests out of the returns 

 from those which were still in good condition. They solved it with strik- 

 ing success. Immense improvement has already taken place and is 

 steadily going on. 



The method of management adopted calls for a sustained yield, 

 that is, no more wood is cut than the forest produces. Under this manage- 

 ment the growth of the forest, and consequently the amount cut, has 

 risen sharply. In 1830 the yield was 20 cubic feet per acre; in 1865, 

 24 cubic feet; in 1890, 52 cubic feet; and in 1904, 65 cubic feet. In 

 other words, Prussian forest management has multiplied the rate of 

 production threefold in seventy-five years. And the quality of the 

 product has improved with the quantity. Between 1830 and 1904 the 

 percentage of saw timber rose from 19 per cent, to 54 per cent. 



It is a striking fact in this connection that in the United States at 

 the present time we are using about three times as much timber as our 

 forests grow. If we were everywhere practising forestry with a result- 

 ing improvement equal to that made in Prussia, our forests would be 

 growing as much as we use. 



The financial returns in Prussia make an even better showing. Net 

 returns per acre in 1850 were 28 cents. In 1865 they were 72 cents; 

 in 1900, $1.58; and in 1904, $2.50. They are now nearly ten times what 

 they were sixty years ago, and they are increasing more rapidly than 

 ever. 



1 See " Financial Results of Forest Management," by Dr. B. E. Fernow in " Forestry and 

 Irrigation" for February, 1907. 



