550 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



(3) All areas cut must promptly be restocked. 



In 1897 the Constitution was again amended; the 

 Union Government was given more authority this time 

 over all forests and waters ; the law of 1902 was adopted 

 by referendum vote of the people in 1903. Article 31 



of this law de- 



clares : 



"The forest 

 areas of Szints- 

 erland must not 

 be diminished." 



The princi- 

 pal points i n 

 the law are : 



(i) The cut 

 of timber must 

 be a sustained 

 cut, the grow- 

 ing stock on the 

 land must be 

 maintained in 

 volume and 

 quality accord- 

 ing to an ap- 

 proved plan. 



(2) Partition 

 and sale of vil- 

 lage, town, etc., 

 forest is for- 

 bidden. 



(3) The pri- 

 vate owner can 

 demand that 

 his forest be 

 bought by the 

 government if 

 he feels unable 

 to manage it 

 properly. 



There is no 

 effort at a n y 

 teaching or 

 prescribing in 

 matter of silvi- 

 culture, it is 

 simply a mat- 

 ter of m a i n- 

 taining the for- 

 est in area, and 

 in its cover of 

 growing trees. 



Fortunat e 1 y 

 for both 

 France and 

 Switz e r Ian d 

 the forests were not owned by a half nomadic lumber 

 industry, in badly distributed tracts, but were largely in 

 well rounded properties and in long lived ownership of 

 old families, villages and towns or else of State. 



A\ EUROPEAN SECOND-GROWTH FOREST 



This forest of Norway spruce in Austria-Hungary has now reached middle age, and shows 



what kind of second-growth forest the United States might have had on land 



which is now desolate had it been cared for properly. 



And now what shall we do with our forests in the 

 United States? Why not copy from the Old World, 

 especially in a matter like forests, where any measure, 

 to be of value, must go on for a century? In principle 

 the case is simple: there is nothing difficult or myste- 

 rious about it 

 anywhere, it is 

 a case of good 

 will and good 

 intentions. Just 

 as in farming, 

 in road build- 

 ing, in educa- 

 tion and other 

 necessary e n- 

 terprises of the 

 people, all 

 countries come 

 to about the 

 same plans and 

 all plans must 

 use methods 

 simple enough 

 to apply, and 

 e f f e ctive 

 enough to ac- 

 complish the 

 task. In the 

 United States 

 as in Europe 

 the two great 

 points in for- 

 estry are : 



Keep enough 

 land area in 

 forest. 



Keep every 

 acre covered 

 with growing 

 timber. 



In the United 

 States the task 

 is threefold : 



(i) Regulate 

 the cut on all 

 the forests we 

 still have. 



(2) Improve 

 the growing 

 stock of timber 

 on the better 

 cut over lands. 



(3) Plant up 

 the 80 million 

 acres of waste 



land where devastation is complete and nature refuses to 



restore the growth. Of these three tasks number one is 



the most important and urgent; if this is neglected a tim- 



(Continucd on Page 574) 



