AFFORESTATION 129 



in Scotland will be financially successful or not 

 will to some extent depend upon whether the 

 question is regarded from the national point of 

 view or from the standpoint of the owner of 

 the woodlands for the time being. His opinion 

 was that the State ought to be content with a 

 profit much smaller than would be sufficient for 

 a private owner. 



In 1899 the Oberlandformeister, or director 

 of the Prussian forest department, used the 

 following language in laying down the principles 

 upon which the Government manages its forests : 



" The Prussian State forest administration 

 does not accede to the principles of a continuous 

 highest soil rent based upon compound interest 

 calculations, but believes, in contradistinction 

 to private forest management, that it cannot 

 avoid the obligation in the management of the 

 State forests of keeping in view the welfare of 

 the whole community of citizens, and therein 

 taking into consideration the need for continued 

 supply of wood and other forest products as 

 well as the other objects to which in so many 

 other directions the forest is subservient. The 

 administration does not consider itself entitled 

 to pursue a one-sided financial policy, least of 

 all to submit the Government forests to a pure 

 9 



