FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 51 



There is a continuity of forest produce. The an- 

 nual yield or cutting of the forest is not allowed to exceed 

 the annual production. A decrease of the growing stock, 

 by over-cutting the forest, would be considered a criminal 

 offense on the side of the forest administration. The gen- 

 eral increase of the productiveness of the forest, however, 

 permits of a gradually, but slightly, increased annual out- 

 put. The forests consist of more or less averaged sec- 

 tions termed "compartments." Every compartment 

 yields periodically (say in the 4oth, 5oth, 6oth, 7oth, 8oth 

 and poth year of tree life) a certain 4 'intermediate yield," 

 composed of immature trees, removed by way of thin- 

 nings. When the remaining trees reach financial matur- 

 ity, they are removed either by a clean sweep or gradual- 

 ly, the removal proceeding hand in hand with the devel- 

 opment of the second growth started underneath the 

 mature trees (fir and beech). 



The cutting of forests, with a view of using the soil for 

 agriculture or pasture thereafter, is strictly prohibited since 

 1803, unless, under certain stated conditions, permission 

 to the contrary effect is granted by the civil government. 

 Any forest ground cleared from tree growth must be 

 planted up within three years after such clearing, if in the 

 opinion of the forest administration regeneration from self- 

 sown seeds connot be depended upon . The owner of un- 

 productive lands, when proposing to plant such lands to 

 forest, receives certain contributions out of the treasury 

 of the state. Plantations made on the tops and on the steep 

 slopes of mountains, also plantations made on dunes and on 

 unproductive prairies densely clothed with ligneous weeds, 

 are free from taxes for 30 years. The amount of damage 

 annually caused by forest fires is very little; no data avail- 

 able. The principal cause of such fires, when they do oc- 

 cur, is the careless use of matches and cigars thrown away 

 burning. Very few such fires are annually caused by rail- 



