have resulted directly from this development 
and a substantial increase in the wealth of the 
country. A typical instance of benefit to an 
individual is given in a publication, in English, 
issued by the Heath Society in 1919, that may 
here be quoted as it stands: “Johan Peder 
Krath took possession of the property ,in 1895 
as an inheritance from his native farm. The 
property consisted ,of a heath lot of 85 td. of 
land (about 110 acres), thereof 8 td. cultivated 
and 5 td. ploughed, without buildings and stock. 
It was valued at 800 kroner; but surely nobody 
would have paid so much for that heath-lot 
then. Krath owned 150 kroner himself, which 
he used to dig a well. 
“In 1896 he married Eva Philbert, who brought 
nothing but a couple of hands accustomed to 
work, and then between themselves they set to 
work with a good will and, it must be said, a 
good health, and there was good use of both. 
Now we see the result. On the formerly black 
heath there now stands a nice farm, surrounded 
by a garden and well cultivated fields, and with 
a stock of 2 horses, 10 or 12 cows, 6 or 8 heifers 
and calves, 5 sheep and 10 to 15 pigs, etc. 
“The first year he grew a crop of 1200 kg. 
corn and 3000 kg. potatoes; now about 12,000 
kg. corn and 40,000 kg. potatoes, besides tur- 
nips, ete. 
“We must concede that it is a fine result of 
the heath and the 150 kroner he began with, 
both for the man himself and for the whole so- 
ciety.” 
The foregoing of course relates to another 
phase of the work, but it must be remembered 
that the initial impetus in all the Heath recla- 
mation work came from the idea of Captain 
‘Dalgas \and his associates to establish forest 
plantations. To aid in establishing forests on 
the heath, the government gives subventions to 
private owers through the Heath Society, but 
to receive this aid the owner must agree that 
thereafter the land shall forever be kept under 
forest. 
SO 
we NY 
ss <P 
BIRR. OED 
U SS 
CO 
The method followed in the tree planting 
work on the heath is first to burn off the heath- 
er in the summer. That autumn the ground is 
plowed to destroy the roots of the heather. A 
second plowing and disk harrowing comes a 
year later, and in the third autumn a trench 
plowing that goes down to a depth of 22 inches, 
The trees, pine and spruce in mixture, are 
planted the next spring. In from 8 to 10 years 
the pines are removed and the spruces left to 
form the forest crop. Thinnings occur at fre- 
quent intervals, 3 to,5 years apart. On the bet- 
ter heath lands the rotation is 60 to 80 years; 
cn the poorer, 80 to 100. 
Everything cut in the plantations finds a 
ready market, even the branches that are 
trimmed off the pines at the age of 8 years be- 
ing sold for fuel, while garden stakes, bean 
poles and the like use saplings down to one-half 
inch in diameter. Denmark can and does prac- 
tice absolute utilization. This fact, coupled 
with the regularity of the forests—even-aged, 
fully stocked stands, with the closely spaced 
trees all standing in marshalled rows—gives 
one a lasting impression of the extreme to 
which forestry can profitably be carried in 
countries of dense population and limited for- 
est area. 
Considered in terms of larger countries, the 
forests of Denmark are insignificant, but looked 
at from the standpoint of an example of a coun- 
. try that is making the most of scanty natural 
resources, Denmark has many lessons to teach 
to nations that are blessed with large areas 
and a greater variety of timber trees. Small 
countries may in a sense be considered as labo- 
ratories where can be tried out on a limited 
scale experiments that are of far-reaching im- 
portance in their application. So with Den- 
mark, The achievements of the Danish forest- 
ers can with profit be studied by those who are 
charged with the administration of the forests 
of other countries. And nowhere does the vis- 
itor receive a more cordial welcome than he 
bas at the hands of the Danes. 
ee 
(34) 
