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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, \\ 



THE TEACHING OF FORESTRY. 



A Manual of Forestry. By William Schlich, Ph.D. 



Vol. I. (London : Bradbury, Agnew, and Co., 1889.) 

 "pROBABLY it will not for some time be generally re- 

 -*- cognized in England that forestry is a profession in 

 the sense in which we speak of the profession of law or 

 of medicine. And it is a bold step to publish a manual of 

 forestry for English readers in a systematic and strictly 

 technical form. This is the task which Dr. Schlich has un- 

 dertaken, and the volume before us is the first instalment 

 of a large work, which, when completed, will be the first 

 comprehensive manual of forestry in the English lan- 

 guage. 



Before going out to India in 1866, Dr. Schlich had 

 passed the examinations for the superior forest service in 

 his own country (Hessfe Darmstadt), he had been the 

 pupil of one of the most eminent Professors of Forestry in 

 Germany, the late Gustav Heyer, and he held a distin- 

 guished place among his fellow students. At the com- 

 mencement of his career, the changes which had taken 

 place in Hesse Darmstadt in consequence of the Austrian 

 war were believed to affect injuriously the chances of pro- 

 motion for the younger members of the forest service. 

 This induced him to accept the offer of an appointment 

 in India. Here he was designated at an early date 

 for important positions, and thus, after he had served 

 several years in Burmah, he was sent to Sind, where, 

 under completely different conditions of climate and 

 forest, he did excellent work. He served successively as 

 Conservator of Forests in Lower Bengal and in the 

 Punjab, until he rose to the post of Inspector-General of 

 Forests. In 1885 he consented to relinquish his import- 

 ant position in India, in order to become Professor of 

 Forestry at the Forest School which it had been decided 

 to form in connection with the Royal Indian Engineering 

 College at Coopers Hill. 



The volume before us contains the general and intro- 

 ductory part ; in a second volume the author proposes to 

 set forth in detail the different sylvicultural operations ; 

 while the protection of forests, the utilization of timber 

 and other forest produce, the systematic arrangement of 

 the plans for working, and the financial aspect of forest 

 management, will complete the work. Not the least of 

 the advantages which will be gained by the publication 

 of this manual will be to settle the English forest termino- 

 logy. The technical terms which had been tentatively 

 used since methodical forest management was begun in 

 India may now be expected to receive general currency, 

 and will be more correctly understood than before. 



The primary object of the Coopers Hill Forest School 

 is the training of officers for the Indian Forest Service, 

 but others also may attend the forestry classes in order to 

 qualify for the management of forests and woodlands in 

 Great Britain and in the colonies. It may therefore be 

 hoped that Dr. Schlich's manual will eventually promote 

 the good management of forests in many parts of the 

 world. In Great Britain and Ireland the author states 

 the area of woods and forests at 2,790,000 acres, and in 

 Vol. xli.— No. 1050. 



British India the area of Government forests at 70,000,000. 

 No data are available for estimating the forest area in the 

 British colonies. But the area stated is sufficient to 

 demand the systematic teaching of forestry in England. 



In the German Empire the total forest area only mea- 

 sures 34,346,000 acres, of which 1 1,243,000 acres belong to 

 the State. Yet there are no less than nine forest schools 

 in the different States for educating the superior officers 

 in the State and other public forests and the principal 

 wood managers in private estates. The books published 

 on the subject of forestry in all its branches during the 

 three years 1886-88 amounted to 177, or fifty-nine a year 

 on an average. Besides these, there are ten periodicals 

 on forestry, some quarterly, most monthly. One general 

 association of German foresters meets annually, and ten 

 local societies hold their meetings either annually or once 

 in two years. And all these associations publish their 

 transactions. Perhaps it will be urged that this large and 

 daily-growing forest literature is not necessarily an ad- 

 vantage ; that German foresters had better attend to the 

 management of their forests instead of writing books. As 

 a matter of fact, however, the management of the German 

 forests, public as well as private, is excellent, and is im- 

 proving steadily. The best proof of this is the large and 

 steadily growing income derived from these estates by the 

 Government, by towns and villages, and by private pror 

 prietors, and, more than that, the improved condition and 

 the increased capital value of these properties. 



A commencement, however, of forest literature has 

 been made in the English language. The Transactions 

 of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society have attained 

 their twelfth volume, and they frequently contain papers 

 of considerable importance. The Indian Forester, com- 

 menced as a quarterly by Dr. Schlich in 1875, 's now a 

 monthly magazine, of which fifteen volumes have ap- 

 peared. In addition to these a number of valuable 

 publications on different branches of forestry might be 

 named that have been published within the last twenty- 

 five years. 



German forest literature, though it has attained such 

 large dimensions, is of comparatively recent origin. 

 During the eighteenth century sylviculture and the 

 management of forestry had made great progress in many 

 parts of the country, but the methodical and scientific 

 treatment of the subject dates from the labours, during 

 the first thirty years of the present century, of Hartig in 

 Prussia, Cotta in Saxony, and Hundeshagen at Giessen. 

 Scientific forestry in England must necessarily be built 

 upon what has been accomplished in this respect in 

 Germany, and with becoming modesty Dr. Schlich 

 acknowledges that the principal German works have 

 been his guide in the preparation of the present book. 

 Great Britain does not stand alone in this respect. In 

 France also the development of scientific forestry has to 

 a great extent been based upon the progress previously 

 made in Germany. The same may be said of forestry in 

 Italy, Russia, Scandinavia, and other European countries. 



Part I. of the manual treats of the utility of forests, 

 directly in producing wood and other forest produce, and 

 indirectly in influencing the climate, in the distribution of 

 rain-water, in the preservation of the soil on sloping ground, 

 in the binding of moving sands, and in affording shelter 

 against winds. All these matters are clearly and ex- 



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