248 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



fires. But in the most accessible parts of Russia, and 

 in Sweden, Norway, and in the larger portion of Ger- 

 many and France, there is a profitable market for all we 

 term waste forest products, such as the smaller top logs, 

 the branches, twigs, leaves, stumps, underbrush, and 

 even the roots of trees. In this country such material 

 encumbers the ground, and greatly increases the danger 

 of forest fires, which is by far the greatest source of injury 

 to growing timber. 



Taxes on Timber Lands. The taxes on timber lands 

 are generally excessive in this country, and entirely out 

 of proportion to the value of the land, and it is largely 

 on this account that owners of timber lands do not care 

 to hold them. This, as a matter of State policy, is um\ise, 

 for the reason that it prevents the development cf eco- 

 nomic forestry. In most European countries where 

 forestry is well developed it is customary to levy a small 

 tax on the land and to tax the products only when they 

 are harvested. Such a tax system is almost unknown 

 in this country, but it is much more just for forest prop- 

 erty than our ordinary taxing methods. It would seem 

 that forest property ought to be regarded in a special 

 class for the purposes of taxation, for the reason that as a 

 matter of State policy it should be encouraged, and the 

 ordinary methods of taxation retard its best develop- 

 ment. 



Income from Game Preserves. Most of the European 

 forests are used as game preserves, as well as for forestry 

 purposes. It is well known, however, that the presence 

 of large game in the forest is generally a great disadvan- 

 tage, and that much injury may come from its presence 

 there, and the rental of about twenty-five cents per acre, 

 which is the price generally paid for the use of forest 

 preserves, is not sufficient to cover the loss. 



The German forestry service generally think it desira- 



