THE FORESTS OF A NEW REPUBLIC 



523 



A WINTER SCENE LIKE FAIRYLAND 



Forest in Bohemia covered with a heavy snow would, 

 if more conveniently located, attract thousands of 

 curious tourists. 



fits to be derived enured to the foreign 

 nobility and the wealthy owners, when 

 the mere walking through one of these 

 private forests was presumptive evidence 

 of a wrongful intent. Of the vast es- 

 tates held by individuals about 64.35 P er 

 cent of the whole in Bohemia, were 

 owned in parcels larger than 1,250 acres 

 in extent, while minor holdings, those 

 less than 1,250 acres in area were held 

 by the poorer classes. 



A slightly different condition prevails 

 in Slovakia. Here the state owns about 

 750,000 acres, municipalities hold 2,000,- 

 000 acres, and private owners have 

 2,250,000 acres. This is the entire for- 



est area of Slovakia, comprising about 

 5,000,000 acres. In many instances the 

 municipalities of Slovakia were enabled 

 to materially reduce or totally abolish 

 direct taxation through lumbering opera- 

 tions on their holdings. 



A novel feature of Czechoslovak for- 

 est development is the principle that the 

 annual growth must equal or exceed the 

 annual cut. This is a wise and far- 

 sighted policy. It is estimated that 

 6,600,000 cubic meters of fire wood and 

 9,400,000 cubic meters of commercial 

 timber are cut yearly. The quantity used 

 for fuel during and since the war will be 

 greatly reduced, in the very near future, 

 through stimulated production of bitumi- 

 nous coal, lignite and oil. At the pre- 



STARK SENTINELS ON THE BORDERLAND 



Like soldiers on guard, the trees stand vigilant on the borders of the new European Republic, 



Czechoslovakia. 



TREES AND NOT ICEBERGS 



This might readily be taken for a photograph of ice 

 hummocks in the Polar region, but it readily is a 

 group of trees in Czechoslovakia, covered with snow. 



vailing prices for lumber competent au- 

 thorities estimate the value of the annual 

 timber cut to be about $120,000,000. 



The policy now pursued in lumbering 

 operations is to allow the cutting of only 

 mature timber. On the other hand it 

 restricts the cutting of timber to such 

 quantities as are added to standing tim- 

 ber. That is, if the increase in standing 

 timber in a given year amounts to 20,- 

 000,000 cubic meters, then the cut for 

 that year may be about the same quan- 

 tity. If it is more or less the cut must 

 correspond. 



It is well to point out some of the 

 main features of the laws governing the 



