THE AUSTRIAN METHOD. 317 



normal growing stock. Having thus determined the yield, the 

 woods for cutting are selected from time to time in accord- 

 ance with sylvicnltural considerations. There is no necessity 

 for drawing up a general working plan for a longer period, 

 than suits the special requirements of each case. 



Of a considerahle number of methods only the following 

 need be mentioned liere, as the others are of moderate 

 practical importance. 



1. lite Anstriau Method. 



{Dir Ooxtrrrr'icli^chc Camera} Ta.ratioi),') 



(I. Description nf tJie Mettwd. 



In the year 1788 (during the reign of the Emperor Joseph II., 

 one of the most enhghtened sovereigns known in history) the 

 Austrian Government issued instructions regarding the as- 

 sessment of forests for the purpose of taxation. In these 

 instructions reference Avas made to the difference, wdiich may 

 exist between the real and normal growing stock of a forest. 

 This led to the knowledge, that a forest, which is expected 

 to give permanently an annually equal return of the normal 

 age and amount, must contain the normal growing stock 

 corresponding to the rotation and method of treatment. 

 Foresters speedily applied this principle to the regulation 

 of the yield of forests by saying, that, in order to lead an 

 abnormal forest over into the normal state, it is necessary to 

 establish the normal growing stock, in other words, to re- 

 move a surplus or to save up any deficit, as the case might 

 be. The method developed upon this basis is called the 

 Austrian assessment method. Authors differ as to the details 

 of the original method, but a general survey of the literature 

 on the subject gives the following rule for determining the 

 yield : — 



" If the normal growing stock is present in a forest, then 

 the actual, or real, increment must be utilised ; if the real 

 growing stock is greater than the normal, more than the real 



