68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



arresting the encroaching sand dunes, which threatened pri- 

 vate interests beyond, and on lands already owned by the 

 State. 



Your law (Revised Laws, chapter 28, section 23) })ermit- 

 ting a town l^y a two-thirds vote to take oi- purchase land 

 within its limits which shall be a public doniain, "devoted 

 to the culture of forest trees, or to the preservation of the 

 water suppl}^," and to appropriate money and accept gifts 

 of money and land therefor, also points in the direction of 

 communal ownership of lands as considered desirable. The 

 conception of a "public domain loan" T consider an espe- 

 cially excellent one, if only the towns would take advantage 

 of these laws, — if they could only be made to see their 

 advantage in doing so. 



Here we have most interesting illustrations as to the 

 advantages accruing financially, as well as otherwise, in the 

 town forests of Germany, from the incomes of some of which 

 not only the entire tax list is paid, but a dividend for distri- 

 bution amonof the bona fide citizens results. Goerlitz in 

 Silesia is said to be one of these happy towns. Nineteen per 

 cent of the total forest area of Germany, or nearly 7,000,000 

 acres, are so owned. 



One of these town forests with which I am familiar, that 

 of the city of Goslar (with about 14,000 inhabitants), in the 

 Harz mountains, a spruce forest of 7,368 acres, furnishes the 

 citizens not only with their pure drinking water, healthful 

 enjoyment in hunting and refreshing coolness in sunmier, 

 but also v\dth a net annual income, which ten vears ago 

 amounted to round $25,000, now probably increased to 

 more than $30,000. Here, under careful management, in 

 round figures annually 350,000 cubic feet of wood (or only 

 47 cubic feet per acre) is cut, of which 46 per cent is saw 

 timber, or about 1,300,000 feet B. M., selling ten years ago 

 at 10 to 16 cents the cul)ic foot, or approximately $16 per M 

 in the log, cut; 40 per cent consists of poles, posts, small 

 dimensions, selling at 4 cents ; and the balance, about 500 

 cords of wood, selling according to quality from $1.60 to 

 $4.30 per cord. 



To give you an idea what good financiers these mountain 



