1895.] ESSAYS. 95 



for this privilege. When the trees are large enough for timber, they 

 are cut under the direction of the official foresters, and the wood and 

 timber is used by the State or the commune so far as needed, and the 

 remainder is sold at market prices. 



Sometimes fruit trees ai'e planted in the forests and along the public 

 roads, and the nuts and fruit thus raised are sold for the benefit of the 

 State or the commune. The forest revenues are usually much larger 

 than the forest expenses, and the surplus is applied to the repair of the 

 highways or other public improvements. 



The private owners of forests are allowed to occupy and manage 

 them under prescribed rules and regulations, and to receive all the in- 

 come therefrom ; but they have to be very careful not to commit any 

 trespass on their own land. They are not allowed to cut down their 

 forests, wholly ; and they must cultivate them in a manner not to en- 

 danger their growth or destruction. Sheep and goats must not be 

 pastured therein, nor cattle, until the trees are of good size. The 

 oldest trees and those most fully developed must be cut first, and 

 sometimes an official forester must designate the trees which the owner 

 is allowed to cut down. Barren spots and all unnecessary paths and 

 gullies must be planted with suitable trees. The felling of trees must 

 be in such a manner as to cause as little damage as possible to young 

 growths or neighboring trees. 



The supervision of all the forests of the State, the commune and 

 private owners is entrusted to official foresters, who are appointed by 

 the State and educated at forestry schools. 



In addition to the forest laws, nearly every country in Europe has 

 forestry schools in which exact knowledge of all branches of the 

 science of forestry are taught. The special studies are zoology, botany, 

 mineralogy, geology, physics, chemistry, climatology, the history of 

 forests and their uses, tree culture and forest management, agriculture 

 and political economy, road building, and the civil law relative to 

 forest, hunting and fishing rights. All the official foresters are grad- 

 uates of these schools, and they also serve an apprenticeship in the 

 care and management of forests before they are entrusted with full 

 forestry responsibilities. 



These forestry laws and schools have been instrumental in preserv- 

 ing and increasing the forests of Europe. There for the past fifty 

 years the forest acreage has been gradually increasing, until in many 

 places one-fourth of the surface of the earth is covered by woods ; 

 while here there has been a constant and rapid decrease in our wood- 

 land area. Our census statistics show that some four million acres of 



