FOREST EXPLOITATION. 193 



children or even his children's children ; but he may 

 feel less enthusiastic if the benefit is only to be reaped by 

 his great-grand-children ; and any one of a hundred things 

 may occur before these be born or coine of age, to render 

 it expedient in connection with personal interests to fell 

 and sell, and not replant. But a nation never dies ; accord- 

 ing to many all forests, but beyond question all state forests, 

 are the property of the nation in its entirety past, present, 

 and to come, of which each passing generation has the 

 usufruct, like the holder of an entailed estate, but is bound 

 in justice tc pass it on in like good condition as that in 

 which they found it, or with compensating advantages for 

 what in view of national interests may be destroyed by them; 

 and as the state never dies, the state can therefore afford to 

 delay felling till the full benefit of the possession has been 

 obtained. Many of the students of forest science hold, and 

 1 hold with them, that it may be all very well to encourage 

 private planting, and to do so in every way compatible with 

 the common good ; and that probably only good will result 

 from such private enterprise ; but that in order to ensure a 

 continuous supply of forest produce of national growth it is 

 necessary to have extensive state forests under wise 

 administration and scientific management : and in 

 accordance with this is the administration and manage- 

 ment of forests here, and throughout the central govern- 

 ments of Russia. 



The general impression produced on my mind by all I 

 have learned is that the exploitation is on what is known 

 in France as La Methode a Tire et Aire a rough division 

 of the forests into sections to be successfully exploited in 

 successive periods with the occasional practice of Jardinage 

 or felling of trees selected as suitable for some purpose 

 designed, when this is deemed expedient. But all this is done 

 with a general tendency to introduce, or at least prepare 

 for exploitation, according to what is known in Poland as 

 the scientific method of exploitation ; that known in 

 Germany as Die Fachwerfre Method ; and in France as La 

 Methode des Compartiments , in regard to which details have 



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