440 



Canadian I'orestry Journal, March, ipi6. 



Swiss Forest Management 



Old Method of Clear Cutting With Plantations Gives Place "to 

 .. _ . Natural Reg-eneration Through Careful Cutting. 



; - . . (CoiUimied from 



At the beginning of the 19th cen- 

 tury the question of surveys was 

 taken up seriously by the Swiss 

 authorities. A triangulation survey 

 of the countr}^ has been completed 

 but more detailed survcA^s have been 

 carried out over only 35% of the 

 territory, and a general plan has 

 been laid out for this work. The 

 division of Swiss lands is as follows: 

 Total area .... 10.330,997 acres. 



Forest 2,348,057 " 



Agricultural . . 5,377,022 " 

 Unproductive 



land 2,605,918 " 



That is. 25.2% of the land is unpro- 

 ductive; 22.7% is forested, and the 

 remainder is devoted to agriculture. 

 The large percentage of unproduc- 

 tive land is of course a result of the 

 mountainf>us nature of the country. 

 The percentage of forest in other 

 European countries is: Germanv, 

 25.9; Austria, 32.5: Hungary, 27.8; 

 France.^ 18.7; Belgium, 18.3; Swed- 

 en. 47.8. No great increase in the 

 area of the forest can be expected 

 and the recent reforestation on new 

 lands has been for protection against 

 floods and avalanches. According to 

 the census of 1910 the population of 

 Switzerland is 150 persons to a 

 square mile or .62 acres of forest 

 per person. Switzerland imports 

 much wood. Where the average of 

 the forest area per inhabitant is be- 

 low about .90 acres the importation 

 of wood is greater than the export. 

 Of the forest land the state lands 

 are 106,545 acres, the communal and 

 municipal forests, 1,597,687 acres, 

 and the individual forests 643,825 

 acres. Thus about three-fourths of 

 the forest is a public domain. 



previous issues.) 



Quality of Szviss Forests. 



The character of the forest varies 

 according to location. To the north 

 lies the range of the Jura mountains, 

 a limestone ridge rising' to a height 

 of over five thousand feet. On this 

 ridge, forested to the summit, are 

 mixed forests of deciduous-leaved 

 trees and conifers. Beech has the 

 most important role in these forests. 

 On the sunburned and dry slopes of 

 the hills the beech preserves the soil 

 against drying, thanks to the shade 

 and its thick carpet of leaves. Its 

 shelter permits the growth of other 

 sjiecies : — ash, maple, fir, spruce. On 

 the south slopes beech is almost al- 

 ways accompanied by Scotch pine 

 but on the more fertile and cooler 

 northern slopes the fir and spruce 

 are found. 



The central valleys lying between 

 the Jura and the Alps contain the 

 principal areas of agricultural land, 

 the soil is better, and the climate 

 milder. Naturally the forest is more 

 varied and deciduous-leaved trees 

 predominate. Oak, beech, hornbeam, 

 ash, maple, elm, alder, willow and 

 poplar are found generally. Fir and 

 Scotch ])ine are also frequent and 

 spruce, which seems to have been 

 more recently introduced, has an im- 

 portant place. 



As the Alps are approached 

 spruce and fir increase rapidly in 

 importance. It is along the northern 

 border of the Alps that these species 

 reach their best development and 

 become dominant. From about 1,500 

 M. altitude spruce remains alone of ^ 

 these two species. The following 

 species attain their maximum devel- 

 opment in the Central Alps : larch, 



