April 9, 1896] 



NATURE 



537 



brought to its present state of perfection by Judeich, for 

 many years until his death in 1894, Director of the 

 Tharand Forest School, one of the ablest foresters of 

 Germany. Its leading idea is to treat each wood, or 

 each compartment, or each group of compartments, on its 

 merits, the management of the whole forest representing a 

 summing-up of the treatment laid down for each wood. 

 It has already been stated that a large portion of the 

 State forests in the kingdom of Saxony are nearly pure 

 spruce forests, managed on a very simple system by clear 

 cutting and planting, and that most of them are worked 

 on a rotation of 80 years. At first sight elaborate working 

 plans might seem to be superfluous under these circum- 

 stances ; it might be thought sufficient if a suitable area 

 of the oldest woods were cleared and planted annually. 

 However, had the forests been worked in this manner, 

 without safeguards against storms and insects, their con- 

 dition would not be what it actually is, nor would the 

 financial results be so satisfactory. Pure spruce woods 

 are apt to be blown down. Spruce plantations are apt to 

 be destroyed by the pine wee\'il, and it was to a great ex- 

 tent the necessity for guarding against damages from 

 these causes which led to the development of the present 

 system in Saxony. On the spurs and in the valleys of the 

 Erzgebirge and the other mountainous regions of Saxony, 

 where most of the State forests are, the direction of the 

 prevailing winds, though generally westerly, is greatly 

 modified by the configuration of the ground. Accordingly 

 the cutting series, in which all clearances proceed against 

 the wind, must be most skilfully arranged, so as to guard 

 against damage. Again, in order to guard against the 

 ravages of insects, the principle of breaks in the successive 

 clearances has been consistently carried out. When in 

 one spot a cutting has been made, the adjoining area is 

 not cleared until the young wood on the first area has 

 become completely estabhshed. The result consists in 

 numerous cutting series, separated by severance cuttings, 

 and numerous clearances of limited extent. An essential 

 feature in this, as in the second'system, is that the yield 

 is determined only for a period of 10 years. The woods 

 proposed for cutting during that period are carefully 

 examined. According to Judeich's plan, the question 

 whether a wood should be cleared is determined by purely 

 financial considerations. Dr Schlich, however, very 

 properly urges that other considerations also should have 

 due weight. Obviously a regulator is necessary, to pre- 

 vent too large an area being assigned to one period. 

 This regulator is obtained in a very simple manner. The 

 total area is divided by the rotation. F"or a forest of 2400 

 acres, worked under a rotation of 80 years, 300 acres 

 would be the area cleared during a period of 10 years. 



The system here sketched is simple and effective, but, 

 like all systems, the results depend upon the manner in 

 which it is worked. The young woods must be complete 

 and vigorous, and though the outlay in formmg them, is 

 multiplied seven-fold in 80 years under the operation of 

 compound interest, even at the low rate of 2^ per cent., 

 undue economy in this first operation, and in the subse- 

 quent tending of the woods, would result in waste and 

 diminished net revenue from these magnificent estates. 



Thus far the management of forests has been discussed, 

 as if timber were the only legitimate forest produce. 

 This, however, by no means is the case. Large planta- 

 tions have been made in Assam by the Forest Depart- 

 ment, ever since 1870, of Fictis clasiica for the production 

 of india-rubber. Myrobalans, the fruit chiefly of Termi- 

 nalia chcbula, is an important article of forest produce in 

 Western and Central India. The Scotch pme forests 

 which surround the old town of Niirnberg, are important, 

 less on account of the timber which they produce, than 

 because the annual fall of needles furnishes litter to the 

 peasants in the vicinity, who chiefly depend upon the 

 growth of vegetables, and who use the dry needles as a 

 substitute for the straw which they do not produce. In the 



NO. 1380, VOL. 53] 



drier regions of India, a commencement was made in 

 1874 to protect woodlands for the specific purpose of 

 furnishing cattle fodder in times of drought. Had these 

 attempts been carried on with sufficient vigour and 

 perseverance, they might have contributed largely to 

 mitigate the sufferings of the agricultural population 

 during seasons of deficient rainfall, which in most parts 

 of the Indian Empire occur from time to time. 



Other articles of produce obviously demand other 

 systems of management. With these, however, forest 

 proprietors in the United Kingdom at present have no 

 concern. Their interest is to produce timber of the best 

 description, and to sell sufficient quantities to attract pur- 

 chasers at regular intervals. A beginning can only be 

 made by actual experience. Should any proprietor have 

 the courage and foresight to ask the author of the manual 

 here reviewed, or any other really competent and 

 experienced forester, to take in hand his forest estates, 

 and to organise their management on a well-considered 

 plan, the result would certainly induce others to follow 

 suit. In a matter of this kind, example is better than 

 teaching, and the sooner a commencement is made, the 

 better for the landed interest of Great Britain. Patience, 

 however, and plodding perseverance, are indispensable 

 conditions of success in forestry. Timber takes many 

 years to attain marketable size, its growth in volume and 

 value is slow, and the money returns are moderate. 

 These are the chief reasons why systematic forestry is 

 not yet respected in Great Britain. In this, as in other 

 matters, the pressing needs of the moment stand in the 

 way of undertakings which would, slowly but surely, 

 advance the future welfare of the country. 



The Protection of Forests. 



We now pass to the consideration of that branch of 

 forestry which deals with injurious external influences, 

 and with the measures that may be adopted to guard 

 against them. These matters form the subject of Mr. 

 Fisher's volume. In the introduction a brief account is 

 given of the earliest attempts at forest protection, sacred 

 groves, and game preserves. Sacred groves are found 

 in many parts of India. In the moister regions, where 

 forests are abundant, we find them, as Mr. Fisher cor- 

 rectly observes, in the hills south of the Brahmaputra 

 river, but also in other districts ; for instance, upon the 

 Javadies and other hill ranges of South India. In the 

 regions with a dry climate, as in Rajputana, the sacred 

 groves of Anogeissus pendula are an ornament of the 

 country, and have often proved a boon to the people 

 by providing cattle fodder in seasons of drought. Old 

 game preserves have in many instances been transformed 

 into useful forests. The forests of Babul, Acacia arabica^ 

 on both sides of the Indus River, were originally formed 

 and maintained as the game preserves of the Ameers of 

 Sind, and are now of considerable importance in that 

 dry and otherwise forestless countr)'. 



Part i. is devoted to the protection of forests against 

 man. The destruction of forests through other agencies 

 is insignificant, compared to that accomplished by the 

 improvident cupidity and careless ignorance of man. 

 These tendencies of mankind the entire manual is in- 

 tended to counteract, in so far as it teaches how forests 

 should be maintained and managed. The present volume 

 only deals with special matters in this respect, the pro- 

 tection of forests against encroachment, damage, mis- 

 appropriation, irregular and excessive exercise of rights 

 of user. 



Part ii. deals with protection against animals. Here 

 the chapters relating to insects are the most important. 

 The damage done to forests by caterpillars and beetles 

 must be seen in order to be believed. The Nun Moth 

 {Liparis monacha) has for several centuries been known 

 as one of the most formidable enemies of spruce forests 

 in Germany, Austria, and Russia. It is also very 



