22 Germany. 



reticai ideals, and others which lack a sure scientific 

 foundation ; and while the general policy of conservative 

 management and of State interest in the same is thor- 

 oughly established, the methods of attaining the result are 

 neither uniform through the various States which form 

 the German Federation, nor positively settled anywhere. 

 In other words the history of forestry is still, even in 

 this most advanced country, in the stage of lively devel- 

 opment. 



For the student of forestry the history of its develop- 

 ment in Germany is of greatest interest not only because 

 his art has reached here the highest and most intensive 

 application, but because all the phases of development 

 through which other countries have passed or else will 

 eventually have to pass are here exemplified, and many 

 if not most of the other countries of the world have been 

 at least influenced by German precedent or have more or 

 less followed German example; there is hardly a policy 

 or practice that has not at some time in some part been 

 employed in the fatherland of forestry. 



One reason for this rich historical background is the 

 fact, that Germany has never been a unit, that from its 

 earliest history it was broken up into many independent 

 and, until modern times, only loosely associated units, 

 which developed differently in social, political and econ- 

 omic direction. This accounts also for the great variety 

 of conditions existing even to-day in the 26 principalities 

 which form the German empire. 



The 208,830 square miles of territory,* which sup- 

 ports a population of 57 million people, still contain 

 a forest area of a round 35 million acres (26% of the 



The statistics in this book do not pretend to be more than approximations. 



