FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 83 



lessness of various kinds. It is notorious that several for- 

 est fires have been caused by sparks from locomotives, 

 but no number can be stated. 



The administration of the state forests is under the De- 

 partment of Agriculture ; its yearly budget is voted under 

 the general budget of finances and its officers are appoint- 

 ed by the king. The state forestry is managed by three 

 forest masters, twenty-three superior foresters, sixty-nine 

 foresters and 306 keepers. The superior foresters have 

 the use of a house free of charge, together with a lot of 

 arable land (30-100 acres) upon which they pay the or- 

 dinary taxes, besides a salary of $950-11,250. The 

 salary of the forest masters is $1,450, to which is added 

 an allowance for traveling and other lawful expenses. 

 The three forest masters give in an annual report on the 

 operations of the local ranges under their supervision. 

 Three reports are prepared in the department and printed 

 in a condensed form as a supplement to the public accounts. 

 Every tenth year is issued a review of the state forestry 

 in the past decennium. The "Tidskrift Skovvasen" 

 (forestry periodical), published in Copenhagen by Mr. C. V. 

 Prytz, professor of forestry in the Royal Agricultural and 

 Forestry Academy, and ( ' Hedeselskabets Tidskrift" 

 (periodical of the society for the cultivation of heaths), 

 published by "Det danske Hedeselskab" at Aarhus, are 

 the periodicals. The revision of the decennial working 

 plans for state forestry, which is simultaneous with the 

 preparation of the working plan for the next ten years, is 

 undertaken by a "Skovtaxator" (appraiser of forests), 

 classed directly under the department, and four assistant 

 clerks. A second "Skovtaxator" with one clerk is con- 

 stantly occupied in the experimental line, in examinations 

 of the growth of trees and the economy of divers modes 

 of forest husbanding, altogether in support of practical 

 forestry. 



