34 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 152. 



drooping, panicled branchlets covered with small, globular, sul- 

 phur colored flowers, filling the air with a delicious fragrance. 

 Some Acacias are difficult to propagate by cuttings, and I believe 

 this is one of them. They are, however, easily raised from 

 seed, and seedlings invariably make the best plants. Acacias 

 make roots rapidly, and quickly fill whatever space is allotted 

 to them. When they are finally placed in tubs as large as can 

 be conveniently handled, frequent top-dressings of rich soil 

 will keep them in good condition for many years. They may 

 be kept in symmetrical form by a little yearly pruning after 

 the flowering season, which is the time for cutting out crowd- 

 ing branches. 



Wellesley, Mass. H. G. 



Clematis paniculata. — In urging the advantage of grafting as 

 a means of propagating this plant it ought to be said that the 

 stock used is merely a vehicle to carry the scion during the 

 in fancy of the plant. When grafted plants are set out care should 

 always be taken to place the point of union beneath the soil, 

 and an examination at the end of the first season's growth will 

 soon show that Clematis paniculata has thrown out a quantity 

 of its thick, thong-like roots, and that the foreign root is 

 already superseded and speedily becomes of little or no use 

 to the plant. Mr. Hatfield says truly that C. paniculata varies 

 considerably when raised from seed, and I have seen seedling 

 forms with a distinct variegation or venation of the foliage, 

 the centre of the leaves being distinctly marked with blotches 

 of a lighter green. And yet it is difficult to imagine anything 

 more beautiful than the typical plant as a perfectly hardy 

 climber. 



South Lancaster, Mass. -£• U. Urpet. 



The Forest. 



Forest-policy Abroad. — III. 



IN France, which stands with Germany at the head of the 

 nations as regards thoroughness of forest-policy, the large 

 extent of Government and other public forests is in excellent 

 condition. The training of French foresters, and, to some 

 extent, the treatment of French forests, differ widely from 

 those which distinguish Prussia, as indeed the genius of the 

 people would naturally lead us to expect. That this training 

 extends over two years instead of the six to eight spent by the 

 Prussian candidates, cannot but make the task of national for- 

 est-administration seem lighter, especially in view of the ad- 

 mirable, and very often the wonderful, results which the 

 French forest-officers have achieved. Perhaps their most 

 brilliant work has been accomplished in the correction of the 

 torrents in the Alps, Pyrenees and Cevennes, in the course of 

 which over 350,000 acres have been rewooded under difficul- 

 ties which seem almost insurmountable. Of the total cost to 

 the French Government, some 50,000,000 of francs, about one- 

 half was consumed in engineering works whose direct object 

 was to make the replanting of the drainage areas of torrents 

 possible. "The forest thus restored to its natural place is 

 alone able," says an eminent French authority, " to maintain 

 the good, but precarious, results of the works of correction in 

 the waterways themselves." The disappearance of this forest, 

 in the first place, may be traced, in most cases, directly to 

 mountain pasturage, and the whole story of reboisement in 

 France is full of the deepest interest in comparison with the 

 past history and probable future of our mountain forests. 



Perhaps the closest analogy to our own conditions in the 

 magnitude of the area to be treated, the difficulties presented 

 by the character of the country and the prevalence of fire, and 

 the nature of the opposition which it encountered, is to be 

 found in the forest-administration of India, and that in spite of 

 the tropical climate with which it has to deal. The history of 

 the movement is comparatively fresh, and the fact that many 

 problems remain as yet unsolved will scarcely detract from 

 the interest and sympathy with which we may be led to re- 

 gard it. 



Systematic forest-management was begun in India about 

 thirty-five years ago, under difficulties not unlike those which 

 confront us now. An insufficient or a wrong conception of 

 the interests involved, the personal bias of lumbermen, the 

 alternating support and opposition of the men in power, were 

 the chief obstacles with which it had to contend ; and against 

 them were pitted the splendid perseverance and magnificent 

 administrative powers of one man. The victory was brilliant, 

 conclusive and lasting, and India has to thank Sir Dietrich 

 Brandis for benefits whose value will go on increasing from 

 age to age. 



" History has proved," says Dr. Schlich, " that the preserva- 

 tion of an appropriate percentage of the area as forests can- 



not be left to private enterprise in India, so that forest-con- 

 servancy in that country has for some time past been regarded 

 as a duty of the state. Of the total area of Government forests, 

 which may perhaps amount to some 70,000,000 of acres, 55,- 

 000,000 have been brought under the control of the Forest- 

 Department. Of this area 35,000,000 are so-called reserved 

 state forests — that is to say, areas which, under the existing 

 forest-law, have been set aside as permanent forest-estates — 

 while the remaining 22,000,000 are either protected or so- 

 called unclassed state forests. These areas together comprise 

 about eleven per cent, of the total area of the provinces in 

 which they are situated. Rather more than half the area, or 

 about six per cent., are strictly preserved and systematically 

 managed forests." 



The formation of these reserved state forests was the first 

 step in systematic forest-management, and it was carried out 

 along lines which are typical. The forest-areas were first 

 selected, following standards which cannot be enumerated 

 here, then surveyed and demarcated on the ground, and 

 finally established as reserved state forests by an act which 

 provided, first, for the presentation, within a certain time, of 

 all claims against the state forests as demarcated; secondly, 

 for their hearing and definite settlement; thirdly, that no pre- 

 scriptive rights could accrue in reserved state forests after 

 their declaration as such under the act ; and, fourthly, for the 

 special treatment of forest-offenses. 



These forests have been gradually brought under simple, 

 but systematic, methods of management, which aim at effec- 

 tive protection, an efficient system of regeneration and cheap 

 transportation, the whole under well considered and method- 

 ical working plans. The forest-staff charged with carrying 

 these plans into effect draws its controlling officers from Eng- 

 land, but the executive and protective work is done by natives, 

 since they alone are equal to the physical labor in so warm a 

 climate. The results of this enlightened policy are conspicu- 

 ous, not only in the great fact that the forests yield, and will 

 permanently yield, the supply of timber and forest-produce 

 which the population requires, but also in the beginning which 

 has been made toward regulating the water-supply in the 

 mountains, and in the increasing capital value and annual net 

 revenue of the state forests. This last has reached the verge 

 of half a million sterling, and it is believed by the men best 

 fitted to judge, that the forest-revenue will increase at least 

 four times during the next quarter of a century. 



There are two other facts resulting from the forest-policy of 

 India which are of special significance to us as citizens of a 

 country where any interference by the Government with pri- 

 vate rights would be so vigorously resented, and where private 

 enterprise must consequently play so conspicuous a part : 

 First, -a body of efficient and experienced officers of all grades 

 has gradually been formed in the state forests whose services 

 are available for the management of private forests, and of 

 communal forests when the time shall come to form them ; 

 secondly, the example set by the well-managed state forests 

 and the steadily increasing revenue which they yield have 

 induced native and other forest-proprietors to imitate the state. 

 The trained foresters, without whom so laudable a purpose 

 must fail, are at hand, and the whole situation argues most 

 favorably for the future prosperity of the country. 



It has been impossible to do more'than glance at the chief 

 points of forest-policy in a few of the many lands which teem 

 with interest in this respect. I would gladly have called atten- 

 tion to Austria, where an excellent forest-service upholds the 

 general principles which we have seen exemplified elsewhere, 

 and to Italy, where the sale of government forests, forced on 

 the state by the pressure of financial necessity, is beginning to 

 bear evil fruit. A circle of lands around the Mediterranean 

 might have been cited to instance the calamitous results of 

 deforestation, and from some of them still further proof might 

 have been adduced to show at what a cost such errors must 

 be repaired. But the countries which have distanced us on 

 the road toward a rational forest-policy might better have 

 claimed our attention. 



Without confining ourselves to Europe, where we might 

 have stopped to glance at Sweden, whose Government has 

 recognized its obligations as a forest-proprietor, and where 

 even Russia could have shown us the beginnings of conserva- 

 tive forestry, we might have found in Japan an organized 

 forest-administration, with a forest-school at Tokio. Cape 

 Colony has an efficient forest-staff, thanks to which the Govern- 

 ment is in receipt of a net revenue from the management of 

 its forests, and Natal has recently engaged a German forest- 

 officer to take charge of its interests in that line. Victoria has 

 a reserved state forest, and New South Wales, Queensland and 

 Tasmania have followed her lead in the appointment of 



