057 



PAET III. 



AUXILIARY FOREST INDUSTRIES. 



Besides the production of raw material from forests, there 

 are several industries with the details of which a forester should 

 be acquainted, as they either form part of his regular duties or 

 are nearly related to them. They may therefore be termed 

 auxiliary forest industries. AYith one exception they are all 

 based on the conversion of raw forest material into commercial 

 products, the exception being peat, which might therefore have 

 been classed among minor forest produce. 



In former times it was undoubtedly advantageous to the forest 

 ownerto conduct some of these industries under his own direct con- 

 trol. Private enterprise has, however, gradually intervened, and 

 most foresters now prefer to confine their exertions to the produc- 

 tion of raw material, since owing to the increasing specialisation of 

 industry and the difficulties of dealing with labour, it is an 

 acknowledged maxim, at least as regards State o\Miership of 

 forests, that the State should not compete unnecessarily with 

 private enterprise. There are some foresters,* however, who 

 consider it necessary or advantageous to direct auxiliary forest 

 industries, especially when the profit made by the middleman in 

 converting raw material into saleable wares is thus secured by 

 the forest owner, or when private enterprise fails to utilize the 

 raw material to the best advantage ; also in cases where it is 

 necessary to lead private enterprise in the right direction, and 

 thus, by producing goods of superior quality, obtain a better 

 market for them. In the same way agriculture is not restricted 

 any more than forestry to the production of raw material, but 



* [This is especiall)- the case in the Sihlwald, a forest belonging to the town of 

 Zurich, where the wood is worked up in detail into all kinds of mercantile 

 produce, besides being treated on the spot with antiseptic substances.— Tk] 



