254 Philosophy of Botany. 



property, makes this, at the prevailing" 3 per cent rate, worth 

 $130,000,000, or $65 per acre, for land which without the forest 

 cover would hardly bring $10, even in these densely settled 

 countries. 



Instead of expending only 80 cents per acre and year, as 

 was done as late as the year i860, Bavaria now expends more 

 than double this amount, pays higher salaries, and maintains a 

 larger force of steady workers ; it spends about a quarter of a 

 million per year on roads and other permanent improvements, 

 and at the same time improves its woods, has more standing 

 timber of larger average size, has more wood growing, and re- 

 ceives more money from this resource than ever before. 



Preservation of forests must come about largely by the abso- 

 lute ownership of lands, either by the nation. State, or associ- 

 ated capital. The management must be controlled by national 

 or State supervisors, amenable to definite forest laws. Pres- 

 ervation of the forest does not mean to keep the ax out of the 

 woods, but to use it rationally. In all natural woodlands 

 must a constant culling be practiced, in order to insure the 

 greatest possible thriftiness in timber growth. This selective 

 thinning out by felling the mature or diseased individuals or 

 undesirable species is for the present the only one practicable 

 form of management. 



If in any region certain kinds are particularly wanted in aid 

 of certain industries, such would, without delay, be planted or 

 sown, especially when younger growth is preferred, like in the 

 pulp industry. The paper mulberry makes a very rapid 

 growth, thrives in any soil, and is well suited for the South. 



Large areas in the State of Tennessee are unfit for profit- 

 able agriculture from poverty of the soil. The spare popula- 

 tion wears out a toilsome life without hope for improvement. 

 Schools of the lowest grade and inadequate to effect intel- 

 lectual improvement give no encouragement in some kind of 

 home industry, and they are ultimately forced to seek employ- 

 ment in the mines. The legitimate remedy would be to put 

 such districts under forest culture. The timber question is 

 a vital point in the life of the coal-mining industry in the Cum- 

 berland Mountains, and not less so to the iron, copper, and 

 other industries in East Tennessee, and a promising field is 



