March 22, 1888] 



NATURE 



49 r 



to realize that their true interests lay in the preservation 

 of the forests, both as a commercial speculation, having 

 regard to the advancing price of timber, and as a sup- 

 port for precipitous ground, and on account of its 

 domestic and national uses. With regard to the latter, 

 it is worthy of note that the respective cantons, from the 

 earliest times, supervised the numerous public woods ; 

 and that the frontier forests were always better looked 

 after than any others, on account of their importance as 

 a defence in time of war, and at the commencement of 

 the eighteenth century woods were protected, as being 

 safeguards against avalanches and landslips. 



Hitherto the students trained in forestry had been 

 sent to the schools in Germany, but in 1855 the Con- 

 federation took the matter up and established a Forestry 

 School, in which henceforth Swiss students were educated 

 in the art of wood-cutting and the kindred sciences. In 

 1858 a long and searching inquiry was made into the 

 supposed connection of the forests and the course of the 

 mountain torrents, and, as a consequence, the State aided 

 the School of Forestry in their efforts to plant anew the 

 ground where springs abounded, and officials were ap- 

 pointed for this purpose. With regard to these officials, 

 mention of whom occurs in all the forest laws of Switzer- 

 land, we first hear of them in 13 14, when, as in subse- 

 quent centuries, they were supposed to be aided by the 

 inhabitants, every one of whom in a woodland district was 

 sworn to disclose any breach of the decrees which came 

 to his knowledge. For centuries these officials were mere 

 guardians, commonly called Bannwiirte ; but the punish- 

 ment of offenders rested with councils of magistrates, 

 (S:c. The ordinary forest-keeper was generally nothing 

 more than an intelligent wood-cutter; but when it was seen 

 that some technical teaching was necessary, the skilled 

 man, and, later still, the man with a knowledge of natural 

 science and mathe natics, was always preferred. In 

 1868 the disastrous floods gave a fresh impetus to the 

 spirit of inquiry into the action of the forests on the rainfall 

 and the course of the torrents; and we find in the revised 

 Federal Constitution of 1874 an article inserted, giving 

 the Federation control over the forests and waterways, and 

 authority to interfere in any way they might think fit. 

 Under this article two officials were appointed— the 

 Federal Inspector of Forests, and also a Sub-Inspector. 

 The Forestry Societies unanimously adopted a pro- 

 gramme which, being presented to the Federal Council, 

 was embodied in the Forest Law proposed by the 

 Council in 1875. This proposed enactment led to much 

 discussion in the Assembly, but was finally passed by 

 both Houses on March 24, 1876. The district to be sub- 

 ject to the law included not only the high mountain 

 ranges, but also the hills bordering on the plains, as 

 sharing in the protection afforded against floods and 

 avalanches by the works which were intended to be 

 undertaken in the former. The district was bounded by 

 a line starting from the east of Lake Leman along the 

 south of the plain between the Alps and Mount Jura, 

 thence to the north of Lake Constance— that is, a tract of 

 country in all about 60 per cent, of the whole of Switzer- 

 land, or 6,750,000 acres, about 15-8 per cent, of which was 

 forest land. It was decided that the rights of private 

 owners should not be infringed except in case of 

 necessity — that is to say, where the woods of private 

 owners were " protecting " woods ; in other words, 

 where, on account of their position, they might have 

 an influence on the climate, avalanches, landslips, &c. 

 Each canton was required to maintain an efficient staff 

 of officials; and to each individual who had received 

 technical training an area of about 17,500 acres was 

 assigned if in the plains, and 25,000 acres on the moun- 

 tains. All the woods under official supervision, including, 

 of course, private woods which came under the class 

 " protecting " woods, were to be demarcated, all clearings 

 were to be immediately planted afresh, and where neces- 



sary new forests were to be created, the Federal treasury^ 

 bearing from 30 to 70 per cent, of the cost, or, in the case 

 of replanting protecting woods, from 20 to 50 per cent.^ 

 according to the difficulty and the importance of the 

 works, which were always required to receive the approval 

 of the Inspector-General before the Federal subvention 

 was granted. All servitudes or easements in "protecting" 

 woods were to be redeemed within ten years, and no new 

 ones were permitted to be created. Anything which might 

 endanger the utility of the forests was strictly forbidden ; 

 cattle were not allowed to graze, nor could leaves be col- 

 lected except in fixed spots. To this enactment was added 

 a " Reglement d'Exdcution," which provides, among other 

 things, for the course of education to be given to each 

 student of forestry by the canton to entitle it to the 

 Federal subsidy. The time of the course is not to be less 

 than two months, which may be divided into two half- 

 courses of a month each, but the whole course must be 

 taken within a year. Instruction must be given in the 

 following subjects :■ — (i) Poorest-surveying and measure- 

 ment in detail ; calculations of the dimensions and value 

 of single trees, and of outlying tracts of wood ; road- 

 making ; safeguards against avalanches, &c. (2) Study 

 of the different kinds of timber and of noxious plants. 

 (3) Elementary knowledge of soils, and of their component 

 parts. (4) Fundamental notions of the laws of climate 

 and meteorology. (5) Cultivation and care of forests. 

 (6) Book-keeping and other general branches of instruction 

 valuable for under-foresters. A preliminary and a final 

 examination are prescribed, and no license is granted 

 except on good answering in the latter. The Federal 

 Government pay the teachers, who are appointed by the 

 canton subject to the approval of the Federal Govern- 

 ment. 



At the outset there were great difficulties in carrying 

 out this law. Some of the cantons had not their codes of 

 regulations drawn up till 1881, and, with the exception of 

 the cantons of Zurich, Fribourg. and Vaud, the survey 

 was not quickly completed. In 1886, however, the Army 

 Staff finished the triangular survey intrusted to them. In 

 1886 the redemption of servitudes prescribed by the Act 

 was not ended, and up to that time ^9150 had been thus 

 expended. There is not in the cantons an uniform 

 organization for carrying out the Forest Law, and Dr. 

 Fankhauser, one of the highest officials of the Forest 

 Department, does not think that such an organization is 

 possible, having regard to the differences in position and 

 ideas of the various cantons. At the present time each 

 _canton possesses in a measure its own scheme of forestry 

 organization. There are, however, two main systems in 

 existence in the Federal district, the first of which pre- 

 vails in the central, eastern, and southern parts of 

 Switzerland. Each canton is divided into districts of 

 from 17,500 to 35,ooo acres each, and over each district 

 the canton places an officer who has received scien- 

 tific training ; under him are the keepers and deputy- 

 foresters, chosen by the owners from among the 

 students of the local forestry school, and paid by them. 

 Each deputy has about 3000 acres to take care of, and 

 has but to carry out the orders of his superior as to 

 felling, clearing, and replanting. In the next, however, a 

 different system obtains. Here the country is far less 

 mountainous, and the inhabitants industrial rather than 

 agricultural in their pursuits. In these cantons the dis- 

 trict forester has from 7500 to 17,500 acres under him, 

 and in this district he marks out all the fellings to be 

 performed, and in fact does everything but the manual 

 labour, which he leaves to his inferiors. This district 

 includes, among other cantons, Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, 

 and Neufchatel, where timber being very high in price, 

 and the opportunities of sale being numerous, the 

 country is fi'equently reafforested by private individuals, 

 while in the other cantons the State is forced to do nearly 

 everything. The cantons not within the control of the 



