FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 141 



damaging natural phenomena, or the spread of damaging 

 insects, are apt to be caused by the mismanagement of a 

 given private forest, then these same authorities take 

 measures to prevent bad effects from resulting to the 

 general welfare of the country. 



Under the forest policy law above mentioned, no forest 

 must be converted into permanent farm land, unless the 

 consent of the forest authorities is previously obtained. 

 Permission is usually not denied if the soil in question is 

 better adapted to farming than to forestry, provided that 

 climatical damage is not apt to result from the change; and 

 further, provided that adjoining forests are not endangered, 

 notably by windfall as a consequence of deforestation to 

 the windward. As a rule, only small portions of forest 

 are converted into farm land; and since a large number 

 of abandoned farms have been reforested in the last ten 

 years, there has been witnessed an increase of the forest 

 area and not a reduction. 



It may here be stated that in respect to net revenue 

 Saxony and Wurtemberg stand at the head of forest 

 administration and forest culture in general 



As further showing the situation in Wurtemberg, I quote 

 from the personal observations of Mr. Austin Gary, an 

 American forester: 



4 'The Black Forest is a region of high and rough land 

 about a million acres in extent, partly in Baden and 

 partly in Wurtemberg. It is well cut up with railroads 

 and turnpikes; it has towns and villages scattered all 

 through it, but much the greater portion of its area is 

 covered with trees. The first forest of which I gained any 

 knowledge was the property of the city of Freudenstadt, in 

 Wurtemberg. I remember thinking as I rode up to the 

 place by rail and found it a city of 6 ,000 inhabitants, that 

 it wouldn't do for a man like myself, who wished to see 

 nothing but woods from morning till night, to live in the 



