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CHAPTER VI. 



Ix the Ardennes, at both extremities of which chain 

 nature has deposited fossil coal in great abundance, our 

 attention is first invited to the forest cultivation of 

 Southern Germany. No better proof need be required ot 

 the fund available for agriculture, on which the rising 

 population has yet to draw, than the extent of the forest 

 land in Germany, and the comparatively small remune- 

 ration which it yields to the owner. The rapid rise in 

 the value of fire- wood and timber within a quarter of a 

 century has attracted the attention of the government, 

 and scientific observations on the state and prospects of 

 the forests have been communicated from so many sides, 

 that we may be said to possess a clearer and more satis- 

 factory survey of the forest cultivation of Germany than 

 of the field tillage. As the methodical way of treating 

 forests that is practised in Germany will probably be a 

 novelty for many of our readers, we propose dwelling 

 upon the subject sufficiently to gratify their curiosity. 

 In a country where the winter is long and severe, the 

 thermometer averaging in January 30° Fahr. at Breslau, 

 and 36° at Coblenz, a supply of fuel at a moderate price 

 is as essential to the common welfare as the sufficient 

 supply of food. It was probably the desire of preserving 

 and methodically following the pleasures of the chace, 

 that originally occasioned in all German states the ap- 

 pointment of a numerous body of foresters, under some- 



