188 Transactions.—Miscellaneous. 
estates; but in framing and working out any comprehensive scheme of 
State Forestry, for the benefit not only of the present but future genera- 
tions, many other considerations present themselves. 
The welfare of the community and country at large (not merely of indi- 
vidual sections) has to be carefully considered at each step, whilst at the 
same time care must be taken not to interfere unnecessarily with local privi- 
leges and vested interests, which time may have sanctioned, though the law 
has not. | 
In my “ Reports on Forest Management,” which have been republished 
by the Government of this colony, I give the following description of scien- 
tific forestry :—'* The main object aimed at in any system of scientific 
forestry is, in the first instance, the conversion of any tract or tracts of 
natural forest, which generally contain trees of all ages and descriptions, 
young and old, good and bad, growing too thickly in one place and too 
thinly in another, into what is termed in German, a geschlossener bestand 
(close or compact forest), consisting of trees of the better descriptions, and 
of the same age or period, divided into blocks, and capable of being worked 
—i.e., thinned out, felled, and reproduced or replanted in rotation, a block 
or part of a block being taken in hand each year. 
In settling and carrying out such a system, important considerations 
and complications present themselves, such as the relation of the particular 
block, district, or division, to the whole forest system of the country; the 
requirements of the people, not only as regards timber and firewood, but 
straw, litter, and leaves for manure, and pasturage; the geological and 
chemical formation and properties of the soil; and the situation as regards 
the prevailing winds, on which the felling must always depend in order to 
decrease the chances of damage to a minimum; measures of precaution 
against fires, the ravages of destructive insects, trespass, damage, or theft 
by men and cattle. Allthese must be taken into consideration and borne 
in mind at each successive stage. Nor must it be supposed that when once 
an indigenous forest has been mapped, valued, and working plans prepared, 
the necessity for attending to all such considerations is at an end. On the 
contrary, it is found necessary to have a revision of the working plan every 
ten or twenty years. It may be found advisable to change the crop as in 
agriculture, to convert a hardwood into a coniferous forest, or vice versa; to 
replace oak by beech, or to plant up (unter bau) the former with spruce or 
beech to cover the ground and keep down the growth of grass. All these 
and a hundred other details are constantly presenting themselves for con- 
sideration and settlement, and the local forest officer should be ever on the 
alert to detect the necessity of any change and bring it to notice, no less 
than the controlling branch should be prepared to suggest what is best to 
