5^4 



jV^ rURE 



[April 2, 1896 



of organised beings, the development of which is governed 

 by a multitude of influences, varying incessantly. Never- 

 theless, if used with due caution, these mathematical 

 formulit, elaborated with praiseworthy perseverance by 

 foresters in Germany, will be found most useful aids in 

 considering the difficult problems which forestry presents 

 in all countries. Some of these problems can, others 

 cannot, in the present state of our knowledge, be solved 

 by the use of mathematical formulae Space forbids a 

 further discussion of this subject. 



In the kingdom of Saxony the State owns a forest area 

 of 430,000 acres, which, after deducting all expenses, 

 yields a mean annual net revenue of ^390,000, or iZs. 

 per acre. For many years it has been an established 

 practice to determine, at intervals of ten years, the capital 

 A-alue of each forest range, soil and growing stock, and 

 to calculate the rate of interest which, under existing 

 management, that capital yields. The total area consists 

 of 107 forest ranges or executive charges, and authentic 

 statements, giving the financial result of forest manage- 

 ment in each range, are published annually. During the 

 five years ending with i8q2 the average capital value of 

 the entire area (soil and growing stock) amounted to 

 15 millions, or alaout ^36 an acre. During this period, 

 therefore, these forests have yielded interest on the 

 capital involved at the rate of 2 '6 per cent. Many of 

 the 107 forest ranges have yielded less than 2 per cent., 

 but a large number regularly yield more than 3 per cent. 

 Compared with the State forests in other countries of 

 Germany, those of Saxony have great advantages. The 

 country is densely inhabited, up to the edge of the forests, 

 factories and other industrial establishments are numerous, 

 and there is a complete system of roads and railways. 

 The consequence is, that timber, even of moderate dimen- 

 sions, commands high prices, and that the produce of 

 thinnings finds a ready market. Under these favourable 

 circumstances, most of these forests are worked on a short 

 rotation, which, it will be evident from the preceding 

 remarks, is always more likely to lead to good financial 

 results, than if the woods were permitted to attain a great 

 age. A large portion of this area has gradually been 

 converted into pure spruce forests, managed on a rotation 

 of eighty years. On other grounds, it may, perhaps, not 

 have been wise to rely upon pure spruce forests. Up to 

 the present time, however, there has been no serious 

 damage from insects or fungi. 



In most other countries of Germany the public forests — 

 that is, those which belong to the State, to towns, village 

 communities, and other public corporations, and most of 

 the larger private forests — are managed on rotations con- 

 siderably longer, and the consequence is, that the capital 

 involved (soil and growing stock) does not yield as high 

 interest as in the State forests of Saxony. The Spessart, 

 for instance, an extensive forest area belonging to the 

 State in the kingdom of Bavaria, contains a large grow- 

 ing stock of old oak timber, 250 to 450 years old, which, 

 if cut and sold at the present time, would fetch about 

 /i, 500,000. The existing working plan governs operations 

 during a period of 120 years, from 1888 to 2007, and par- 

 ticularly prescribes the manner in which the old standing- 

 oak timber shall be utilised. About 60 per cent, of the 

 quantity alluded to consists of trees 300 to 450 years old, 

 with hardly any volume- or value-increment'. These it 

 is proposed to cut during the next forty years. If they 

 were cut now, and the proceeds were used to redeem part 

 of the State debt, upwards of ^27,000 a year would be 

 saved in interest. The remaining 40 per cent, consists 

 of trees now about 250 years old. These will furnish the 

 yield in oak timber from 1936 to 1983, and when they are 

 cut the volume will be greater, and the timber, being 

 larger, will fetch much higher prices. Nevertheless, in 

 the case of this portion, also, there will be considerable 

 loss of interest. This sacrifice of interest is made 

 deliberately by the Government of Bavaria, with the full 



NO. 1379, VOL. 53] 



consent of the Parliament at Munich, because it is con- 

 sidered desirable to maintain a regular supply of oak 

 timber from this source, upon which numerous industrial 

 establishments in the large villages all round the Spessart 

 to a great extent depend. 



And there are many other forest tracts in Germany of 

 large extent, both public and private, which still contain 

 enormous stores of old-growing timber, the inheritance 

 of several centuries. In such cases it is right on many 

 grounds to spread the removal of the old timber over a 

 long series of years, and rather to work the forests on 

 conservative than on purely financial principles. In Great 

 Britain, however, circumstances are more similar to those 

 which exist in Saxony, and hence, in the management of 

 its woodlands, financial considerations will probably pre- 

 ponderate. 



Part iii. deals with working plans ; and this portion of 

 the book cannot be sufficiently recommended to forest 

 proprietors in Great Britain. In the first volume of his 

 manual. Dr. Schlich justly drew attention to the large 

 importation into the United Kingdom of timber and other 

 forest produce, and he estimated that ^12,000,000 a year 

 represented the value of oak, birch, coniferous and other 

 woods imported from abroad, that might be produced in 

 Great Britain. This was in 1889 ; it was a cautious 

 estimate, and since it was made, the imports into the 

 United Kingdom have increased steadily. 



Landed proprietors in Great Britain have fortunately 

 not yet suffered to the same extent by the decline in the 

 price of wheat and other agricultural produce, as pro- 

 prietors in some parts of Germany. Yet their income 

 has diminished, and in many cases it doubtless 

 would be desirable to increase that income. Much 

 might be done in this direction, if the management of 

 existing woodlands were improved, and if land which it 

 does not pay to keep under the plough, or to convert 

 into grass land, were planted up and converted into forest. 

 One objection commonly raised to this proposal is, that 

 timber traders prefer imported to home-grown timber. 

 That this is the case there is no doubt, and in the preface 

 to the present volume Dr. Schlich explains the reason. 

 Home-grown timber cannot, as a rule, compete with 

 imported timber, because it has not grown up in dense 

 compact masses. The woods are open, hence the bole is 

 short, branched, and knotty. There are exceptions, but 

 open park-like woods are the rule, and these cannot be 

 expected to yield timber of good quality. A different 

 system of sylviculture must be adopted. Of greater 

 importance still is the adoption of regular systems of 

 management. Timber of different kinds and of the exact 

 qualities required by the market is imported regularly in 

 sufficient quantities at the principal ports of the United 

 Kingdom ; the timber trader is able to make the needful 

 arrangements to supply his customers, because he is 

 certain that whatever he may require to meet their 

 demands, will be available at the right time. Home- 

 grown timbei", on the other hand, is thrown upon the 

 market in an irregular fashion. All at once heavy 

 cuttings are made at one place, to provide money, or for 

 other reasons, and then perhaps nothing is cut in the 

 same district for years to come. The necessary conse- 

 quence of such a system, or rather want of system, is that 

 the timber is not sold at its full value. And when a 

 calamity occurs, such as the storm of 1894, the timber 

 blown down cannot be sold, except at ruinously low 

 rates. The only remedy is the adoption of methodically 

 arranged working plans in all forest tracts throughout the 

 country. Among other things, such working plans deter- 

 mine the annual yield of each forest district. It does not 

 follow that the yield once fixed must be pedantically 

 maintained. A good working plan is elastic, and permits 

 deviations to suit the interests of the proprietor. But if 

 a methodical system of working is the rule in all forest 

 districts, these deviations will generally compensate each 



