12 Government Forestry Abroad. [196 



spected equally the place which the forest holds in 

 relation to agriculture and in the economy of nature, 

 and hence feels itself doubly bound to protect its 

 wood lands. 



In a word, it has seen that in its direct and indirect 

 influence, the forest plays a most important part in 

 the story of human progress, and that the advance 

 of civilization only serves to make it more indis- 

 pensable. It has, therefore, steadily refused to 

 deliver its forests to more or less speedy destruction, 

 by allowing them to pass into the hands of shorter 

 lived and less provident owners. Even in the times 

 of greatest financial difficulty, whe"n Prussia was 

 overrun and nearly annihilated by the French, the 

 idea of selling the State forests was never seriously 

 entertained. 



But the government of Prussia has not stopped 

 here. Protection standing alone is irrational and 

 incomplete. The cases where a forest reaches its 

 highest usefulness by simply existing are rare. The 

 immense capital which the State wood lands repre- 

 sent is not permitted to lie idle, and the forest, as a 

 timber producer, has taken its place among the per- 

 manent features of the land. The government has 

 done the only wise thing by managing its own forests 

 through its own forest officers. 



The organization of the Forest Service is briefly as 

 follows: At its head stands the Department, or more 

 correctly, the Ministry of Agriculture, State lands 

 and forests, which exercises general supervision over 

 forest affairs through the medium of the (Oberland- 

 forstmeister) chief of Forest Service. A part of 

 this central office is the Bureau of Forest Surveys 

 and Working Plans, a factor of very great impor- 



