HOW SWITZERLAND CULTIVATES HER FORESTS 



849 



A GENERAL VIEW OF AROSA, IN THE GRISONS, SWITZERLAND, ALTITUDE, 0,043 FEET 



This is one of the best of the "protecting forests" which are considered a necessary safeguard against natural forces such as avalanclies, land 



slides and inundations, and as a consec^uence there are certain laws prohibiting their injudicious cutting. Of the entire area of forests in 

 Switzerland, over three-fourths is classihed as "protecting forests." 



mountain regions appear thickly wooded at first, their 

 production is poor. 



Forests, as previously indicated are considered a 

 safeguard against natural forces, such as avalanches, 

 land slides and inundations, and as a consequence there 

 are certain laws prohibiting their injudicious cutting 

 down, and these laws apply to private-owned forests as 

 well as to public-owned ones. All the forests in the 

 canton of the Grisons, Appenzell, Ausser-Rhoden, Uri, 

 Neuchatel and Basle (City), are regarded as "protect- 

 ing" forests, while in the cantons of Schwyz, Unterwal- 

 den, Glarus and Appenzell Inner Rhoden all public and 

 ^^ part of the private-owned forests are declared "pro- 

 tecting" forests. In the other cantons the public and 

 private-owned forests are partly "protecting forests" 

 and partly non-protecting. Of the entire Swiss forest 

 area 75. ij per cent is considered "protecting forests" and 

 24.8 per cent non-protecting. 



These laws safeguard the Swiss forests from untimely 

 destruction and no matter how much building may be 

 done in a district, the forests have to be duly respected. 



The different parts of Switzerland, with their great 

 variation of altitudes, are subject to widely different 



climatic conditions and as a result we find a similar 

 difference in the forest growth. 



In the Jura, for instance, the beech plays a prominent 

 rcle. It can really be considered the foundation of the 

 Jura forest and, thanks to its thick foliage, it prevents 

 the soil on the sunny slopes from drying up. The pro- 

 tecting presence of the beech enables other more exact- 

 ing species of trees to grow in their turn, such as the 

 ash, the maple, the fir, and the pitch. On all the slopes 

 with a southern exposure the beech is intermingled with 

 the red pine. 



In the plains we find a good variety of the oak, elm, 

 beech, ash, maple, linden, alder, willow, poplar, fir and 

 red pine. Today the pitch tree also occupies an import- 

 ant place in these lower regions. 



Approaching the Alps, the pitch tree and fir are more 

 prominent and from 4,500 feet upward the former alone 

 lemains. In the central Alps the larch, the cembra pine 

 and the so-called mountain pine are in particular evi- 

 dence. In certain regions of the Bernese Oberland, in 

 the canton of Unterwalden. around the Lake of Lucerne 

 and in the Rhine ^^alley the beech is also well 

 represented. 



