k 2^ BULLETIN 481, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



F.urope affords many illustrations of successful communal forests. 1 

 In France, for example, over 11,000 communities have forests, with 

 an aggregate area of 5,000,000 acres — nearly a quarter of the total 

 forest area of the country. In Austria over 3.000,000 acres, in Ger- 

 many 5,600,000 acres, and in Switzerland nearly 1,350,000 acres be- 

 long to communities. Italian communal forests form over 43 per 

 cent of the total forest area. The amount of woodland owned by a 

 single community varies from 2^ to over 15,000 acres. In Prussia 

 the size averages about 2,000 acres, but this is probably the highest 

 for all Germany. 



The income from European communal forests is very large con- 

 sidering the poor quality of soil on which the timber thrives. The 

 better managed of them yield annually a net income of from $7 to 

 over $10 per acre. The average gross revenue from 2,000 acres 

 would be about $6,500, and it is not surprising to find communities 

 that derive from these forests a revenue sufficient not only to pay 

 all the taxes corresponding to our county, town, and school taxes, 

 but to yield, in addition, an annual dividend to every householder. 

 From the 2,500 acres of timber owned by the Swiss city of Zurich, 

 for example, the net income has averaged as much as $20,000 per 

 year for a period of 10 years; and Freiberg, in Germany, derives 

 from $20,000 to $30,000 annually from its 3,000-acre woodlot. It is 

 estimated that the 5.600,000 acres of communal forest in Germany 

 yield annually a net income of $9,250,000, which, capitalized at even 

 3 per cent, represents a property worth $308,000,000. 



Though the returns mentioned above are undoubtedly far in 

 excess of any which could be obtained in this country for years to 

 come, they at least indicate a great possibility for the future develop- 

 ment of the American woodlot. There are always soils available 

 which are too poor, swampy, or steep for cultivation, orchard, or 

 even pasture, and it is on these that tree growth can be practiced 

 with success. Already there are more than 60 American cities and 

 towns, situated in 10 or 15 States, which have acquired municipal 

 forests ranging in area from 50 to 25,000 acres. 2 While the primary 

 object of these holdings is ordinarily to protect water supplies from 

 contamination, many of them are already being carefully managed, 

 and it is only a question of time when many will yield a direct income 

 over and above their value for protection. 



WOODLOTS AND PUBLIC FORESTS. 



The largest share of the timber for consumption in the future must 

 unquestionably be grown on areas set aside as National and State 



1 The figures which follow are taken from " Communal Forests," by Raphael Zon, in 

 Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American Agriculture," Vol. IV, pp. 144-148; 1909. 



- See " County, City, Town, and School Forests," by Prof. J. W. Tourney, in Ameri- 

 can Forestry, July, 1916, pp. 428-429. 



