574 Canadian Forestry Journal, June, kjiO. 



to the present Forest Service, this policy was- changed for the worse by- 

 planting oak eight to twelve yards apart and nnckrplanting with beech, 

 oak, chestnut and ash for coppice, a system which produced poor oak timber 

 and impoverished the soil. 



Initiation of a Forestry System. 



Previous to 1890 there was no technical service in charge of Holland's 

 forest lands, the administration being in the hands of the Land's Depart- 

 ment officials. In that year an official of the Colonial Forest Service in 

 Java was placed in charge of the Dutch Forest administration and an or- 

 ganization created which still exists. A branch of the agricultural depart- 

 ment was created, known as the "Staatsbosch beheer," and charged with 

 the administration of state forests and heath lands. The head of the service 

 is known as the inspector of state forests and plantations. The head- 

 cpiarters of the organization are at Utrecht. The country is divided into 

 Houtriesterij (forest districts). In charge of each district is a Houtriester 

 or district forester. The composition of a forest district is well shown by 

 the one which I visited. This district, the best timbered of any in Holland,, 

 was made up of five forests, each an administrative unit known as a 

 Bosch wachterij, and in charge of a Bosch wachter or permanent ranger. 



So well have these districts been mapped that in all official tables the 

 area is given in hectares to the fourth decimal place, a feature of intensive 

 administration which profoundly impressed the visitor from British Co- 

 lumbia. 



The Houtriesters in charge of the five districts are foresters who w^ere 

 trained in the Dutch school of agriculture and horticulture, and later at 

 Munich. Tlie Boschwachters are strangely, for a country where the work 

 is so intensive, are not encouraged to take any special training, and are 

 not expected to secure promotion to the position of Houtriester. In order 

 that the Dutch and Colonial supply of trained men may be developed a 

 state forest school has been opened at Wageninigen in connection with the 

 state school of agriculture and forestry, -where a course is given, two years 

 at the school and one year working on a Dutch forest under a Houtriester. 

 The graduates are employed chiefly in the Dutch colonies. 



When I arranged to visit the Dutch forest near Breda, I selected this 

 particular district because the Houtriester spoke English. It was impos- 

 sible to mistake him when I arrived at the station. A green felt hunting 

 cap surrounded by two green cords ending in a tassel, the brim turned 

 jauntily up; a dark green uniform, the coat double-breasted, buttoning 

 tight and overlapping in front from one shoulder to the other with green 

 corded epaulettes and two rows of darkened brass buttons down the front 

 bearing in relief the Lion of the Netherlands, green riding breeches and 

 black leather leggings. These were the markings of a forester who spoke 

 excellent English, and as soon as I landed asked if I knew Overton Price, 

 with whom he had studied a year at Munich in 1898. 



A Mulitplicity of Forest Roads. 



We embarked in a taxicab for the inspection of the forest. When: 

 there are no visitors along, the customary mode of travel is on a bicycle. 

 The roads are as level as they must be in a forest district where there are 

 only two contours, one for ten yards and the other for 15 yards above sea 

 level. Whether or not because they are valuable chiefly for military pur- 

 poses, the roads are all paved with granite sets. We visited first the Lies- 

 bosch, an oak forest existent since 1500. 



