342 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
CULTIVATION AND PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. 
Considering the great importance of the preservation of forests, and the lam- 
entable want of foresight which permits their reckless destruction in nearly all 
parts of the world, but more particularly in our own continent, where forests will 
soon become scarcer and scarcer unless more practical measures are adopted for 
their preservation, it is satisfactory to be able to note that some Governments are 
recognizing the advisability of attempting the preservation of the forests they 
have under their charge. One of these, we are able to learn from a report pub- 
lished during the late Paris Exhibition, is the Government of France. The doc- 
ument in question, at the time it was issued, did not attract the attention it really 
deserves, and on that account we refer to it here somewhat fully. 
We learn from the report that a large proportion of forest land does not 
necessarily exclude a numerous population. Compared with Germany, France 
has a third less of forest-covered soil, at the same time that she has a population 
less dense by one-eighth. Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Great Britain, being 
either countries with a proportionally large sea coast or else islands, with an es- 
pecially damp climate, may be left entirely out of the comparison, as they are 
able to exist without extensive forests. But there is no question that the retro- 
grade process of Spain, her less dense population, is due in no small degree to 
the absence of forests, more especially as the uniformly mountainous nature of 
her soil requires, more than any other county, the prevalence of forests. | Wher- 
ever this test is applied, it will be found (of course, speaking only of European 
countries) that fertility and density of population are closely connected with the 
presence of forests. It would form a generous undertaking for any Government 
to aim at an equalization in this direction. Whatever has been done in this re- 
spect in all countries has only been effected piecemeal; consequently it has been 
of but little influence on the whole. A common mode of procedure is what is 
wanted. 
The experience gained by the French Office of Woods and Forests with re- 
gard to the acclimatization of foreign, especially trans-oceanic forest trees, is par- 
ticularly valuable. The blue gum tree imported from Australia prospers in the 
South of France, and by its plantation at the mouth of the Var the marshes sur- 
rounding it have been drained, and the fevers formerly prevailing there banished. 
The trees prosper wonderfully in Algiers, as the section of a trunk not yet fifteen 
years old, of a diameter of one foot proves. But the wood is white, light, breaks 
easily, and cannot be compared with the durable, solid ship timber which the 
same tree produces in Australia. The same is the case with the American oak, 
which prospers in poor soil, grows quickly, and forms beautiful tops of foliage. 
But the wood is inferior, the bark contains less tannin than that of European 
oaks. Trees, consequently, can be planted in certain cases only as surrogates, 
principally to prepare the ground for better kinds. At present, experiments are 
also being made with the Californian theya tree, the wood of which is especially 
