WOELD'S TIMBER RESOURCES 189 



ing stock. On lands classed as " protection 

 forests," all timber to be cut by private owners 

 is marked by government oflS.cers in order that 

 wasteful or careless cutting may be prevented. 

 " One of the most remarkable instances in 

 Europe of successful communal management is 

 that of the Sihlwald, which belongs to the city 

 of Zurich. With an area of only 2,400 acres 

 this forest, in the year 1889, gave a return of 

 over £l 13s. per acre, or £4,000 for the whole 

 property. Its working is so regulated that areas 

 of equal productive capacity are covered by 

 stocks of every age from the seedUng to the 

 mature tree. The age gradations, it is said, 

 are so regular that in the course of an hour's 

 walk one may pass from an area just cut over 

 through compartments of steadily advancing 

 age and growth, till the trees which have at- 

 tained the fuU age limit of ninety years are 

 reached. The forest is managed under different 

 plans of working, and while great care is taken 

 to secure a large annual yield, it is not obtained 

 at the expense of the permanent productiveness 

 of the forest, the precaution to insure regular 

 regeneration being studiously observed. While 

 the conditions of soil and moisture are favourable, 

 it would not be easy to account for the excep- 

 tional productiveness of the Sihlwald, but for 

 the fact that the land has been continuously 



