14 STUDY IN EUROPE FOR AMERICAN FOREST STUDENTS. 



east towards west, with the result that the 

 closed forest is never suddenly exposed on 

 the west side. A normal " cutting series," 

 or in other words one in which there is a 

 regular gradation of woods of different 

 ages, presents a curious appearance and 

 consists of a series of even aged blocks ar- 

 ranged like the steps of a stairway, from 

 the youngest plantation to the mature 

 stand, and each protecting the other from 

 the wind. This elaborate precautionary 

 measure has one weak point. So long as 

 the heavy winds are westerly, it affords 

 an entirely adequate means of protection. 

 Now and again, however, a strong wind 

 comes from the east, when it is free to 

 work great havoc on the unprotected ma- 

 ture woods which bound the cutting series 

 on that side. 



The Schwarzenberg forest district, hard 

 against the Bavarian border, contains some 

 representative forest ranges among which 

 are the most remunerative in the king- 

 dom. 



Having seen the systems applied to the 

 mixed forests of tlie Schwarzwald and in 

 the pure stands of Spruce in Saxony, the 

 student will have had an opportunity to 

 compare the two great types of forest man- 

 agement in Europe. The painstaking, 

 patient methods by which reproduction is 

 obtained in the Schwarzwald and a high 

 degree of safety attained is in strong con- 

 trast to the Saxon system in which grave 

 dangers are invited by direct violation of 

 the silvicultural laws governing the natural 

 development of a forest. 



It is a question whether the student will 

 find in Prussia, except upon the Pine Bar- 

 rens, many notable forms of forest man- 

 agement which are not quite as forcibly 

 illustrated in southern Germany. The 

 Prussian working plan method is the most 

 intricate of all and forest management 

 generally in Prussia is more hampered by 

 red tape than anywhere else in Europe. 

 He should not fail, however, to visit the 

 Salmuenster range in southwest Prussia, 

 where Oak is reproduced naturally in in- 

 structive contrast to the treatment of the 

 same species in the Spessart. 



These are a few of the forest ranges 

 which Americans have found instructive. 



To include them all would have been to 

 make a catalogue of this paper. The list 

 which has been given is suggestive only in 

 its purpose. Before one has been long in 

 Europe, he will be able to make his own 

 plan of campaign far better than another 

 can make it for him. The maia point is to 

 weigh that plan thoroughly, and above all, 

 with a realization of the fact that European 

 forestry, although simple in purpose, is 

 intricate enough in its details to bewilder 

 any one who approaches it in a desultory 

 way. 



It is also well to remember at the very 

 outset, that no man can master the details of 

 European forest management in a year, and 

 that the profit gained from the trip will de- 

 pend largely upon the selection made of 

 those features to be especially studied. The 

 American forest student will find scientific 

 research highly developed in European 

 forestry and he can waste a good deal of 

 his time over abstruse lines of investigation 

 which not infrequently owe their origin 

 solely to the yearning of a scientist to in- 

 vestigate something. He should never 

 lose sight of the fact that his main purpose 

 in going to Eui-ope is to see the effect of 

 forestry upon the forest. The greatest 

 practical benefit to him lies in the study of 

 the woods themselves and of the working 

 plans under which they are managed. 



The student who goes abroad for a year 

 had no time for a European forest school. 

 Should he spend an extra six months in a 

 semester at one of the sevei'al forest schools 

 in Germany, he will have an interesting 

 experience. However, one goes abroad to 

 get what he cannot get at home, and the 

 establishment of forest schools in this 

 country has done away entirely with the 

 necessity for students to attend them in 

 Europe, Before this was the case, the 

 forest school at Munich was most often 

 chosen by Americans. It has an eminent 

 corps of instructors, and Professor Henrich 

 Mayer, who handles silviculture and forest 

 utilization, adds to his remarkable bril- 

 liancy as a silviculturist an intimate knowl- 

 edge of American forests and American 

 conditions. 



Living is proverbially cheap in Europe, 

 particularly in the villages and smaller 



