PREFACE. 



This publication is the result of a series of 25 lectures 

 which the writer was invited to deliver before the stu- 

 dents of forestry in Yale University as a part of their 

 regular course of instruction. 



Circumstances made it desirable, in the absence of any 

 existing textbooks on the subject, to print at once, for 

 the sake of ready reference, the substance of the lectures 

 while they were being delivered. 



This statement of the manner in which the book came 

 into existence will explain and, it is hoped, excuse the 

 crudities of style, which has been also hampered by the 

 necessity of condensation. 



The main object was to bring together the informa- 

 tion, now scattered and mostly inaccessible to English or 

 American readers : the style has been sacrificed to brev- 

 ity ; it is a book of expanded lecture notes. 



In the nature of the case the book does not lay claim 

 to any originality except in the manner of presentation, 

 being merely a compilation of facts gathered mostly 

 from other compilations, ofBcial documents and jour- 

 nals. 



For none of the countries discussed does a complete 

 work on the history of forests and forestry exist, except- 

 ing in the case of Germany, which can boast of a number 

 of comprehensive worlvs on the subject. It was, there- 

 fore, possible to treat that country more in extenso. 

 Moreover it appeared desirable to enlarge upon the his- 

 tory of that country, since it is pre-eminently in the lead 

 in forestry matters and has passed through aU the stages 



