GERMAN FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



217 



If the felling is to be a clearing, a strip is assigned to each gang of 3 men, 1 with an ax and 2 

 with saws (felling with the, .saw, of course, is the rule); if a regeneration cutting or thinning, the 

 trees to be taken are carefully selected by the ranger or manager and marked with a marking 

 hammer. As a rule, all fellings are done during winter, and all trees, except in the coppice and 

 small poles, are felled with the saw close to the ground. In the pineries of the North German 

 plain, where the root wood is salable, they are even dug out and then sawed oft' close to the root, 

 thus saving a good piece of log timber, which in Saxony increases the wood value of the harvest 

 by fully 3 per cent. Which parts of the log are to be cut into firewood and which into lumber 

 wood or special timbers, and the length of the same according to the best use that can be made 

 of the stick, are determined by the foreman, or in valuable timber by the ranger or mannger 

 himself. A scale of sizes and classes of timber (sortiment) exists; in general, all wood over 3 

 inches diameter is called Derbholz (coarse wood or lumber wood), all below 3 inches is brushwood 

 (Reisholz), with which root wood (Stockholm) is classed. These last two grades are used as fire- 

 wood, with which is also classed body wood or split wood (Scheitholz), split from pieces over 6 

 inches diameter at the small end, and round billet wood (Kniippelholz) of 3 to 6 inches diameter. 



The wood to be used in the arts, called timber wood (Nutzholz), may appear either in bolts, 

 corded, or in logs. The diameter measurement of logs is made by the ranger, with calipers, at 

 the middle of the log. Every cord and every log is numbered and the diameter and length noted 

 on the log, and a list prepared in which the cubic contents are calculated. From this list the 

 manager checks off' the result of the felling, marking each piece or cord with the marking hammer, 

 and alter advertisement sells at public auction, in the woods or at some public place, the single 

 pieces or cords to the highest bidder over and above the Government rate, which for the different 

 grades is established every three years on the basis of, but below current market prices. The 

 sale of logs is made per cubic foot, and the size of the log influences the rate or price, heavier logs 

 being disproportionately higher in price. 



PRICE OF WOOD IN THE FOREST. 



During the years 1884-1887 the following prices were obtained by the Prussian forest adminis- 

 tration for wood in the forest. This is practically for stumpage, cut and marked, the buyer hauling 



it from the woods : 



Price per 100 cubic fuel of wood in Prussia. 



To gain a;i idea of the appreciation of the wood product, without reference to kind, size, and 

 quality, the following series of figures will serve: 



Arerage price per 100 cubic feet of wood realized by the Prussian Government for its entire crop (about 300,000,000 



cubic feet). 

 Tear. Price. 



1850... $3.27 



1855. 

 1860. 

 1865. 

 1870. 

 1875. 

 1880. 

 1885. 

 1890. 



3.66 

 3.69 

 4.71 

 4.35 

 5.21 

 4.47 

 4.30 

 4.40 



The highest price for any district was obtained in 1888, being $8.49, while the lowest was 

 $2.82. The lower prices in later years are explained by the large importations of wood, especially 

 from Hungary, Russia, and Sweden ; for while our misinformed forestry friends point to Germany 

 as the Eldorado of forestry and proclaim the proportion of forest area there maintained, namely, 



