STUDY IX EUROPE FOR AMERICAN FOREST STUDENTS. 



importance. It was in Switzerland, that 

 reckless lumbering of the mountain forests 

 resulted in such serious damage from land- 

 slides and avalanches to farms in the Alpine 

 valleys, that an urgent and successful pub- 

 lic appeal was made to the Government to 

 take their management into its own hands. 



On his way northward from Switzer- 

 land, the student will do well to see some 

 rangesof the middle and northern Schwarz- 

 wald. Of the former, Staufen is the best 

 known. It is the largest range in Baden, 

 and the management of its mountain for- 

 ests is particularly instructive. Of the 

 latter, the ranges of Baden-Baden, Wol- 

 fach, and Herrenvvies are representative. 

 Wolfoch. an excellent example of the se- 

 lection system, is full of suggestion for 

 American foresters. 



It is but a short distance into Bavaria 

 from the northern Black Forest. Bavaria 

 is rich in forests and presents a very wide 

 range of local conditions. The Spessart is 

 well known and teaches forcible lessons 

 in silviculture and national economy. It 

 has been thought best to describe this forest 

 district at some length since no American 

 student abroad will fail to see it, while its 

 form of management may be of some in- 

 terest to those who confine their studies to 

 is country. 



The Spessart which is situated in the 

 northwestern portion of Bavaria covers an 

 area of about 115,000 acres. There are 

 few forests of the same size, the whole- 

 sale lumbering of which would realize so 

 enormous a profit. The stand is chiefly 

 Beech and Oak, many of the latter 400 

 years old, with a diameter of three feet or 

 more and a clear length of sixty feet — 

 certainly the finest Oak in Europe and 

 sometimes equalled, but seldom excelled, 

 by the White Oak of our Southern and 

 Middle States. One can walk for hours 

 in this district among; Oaks worth from 

 fifty to two hundred dollars a tree and the 

 total value of this timber in the Spessart 

 is estimated at nearly one million dollars. 



Bavaria is not a wealthy kingdom. 

 Wars and enforced preparation for war, a 

 generally unfruitful soil, the extravagances 

 of the royal house, and, especially in the 

 south, and idle and pleasure-loving pea- 



santry, have all led to poverty. Under the 

 careful husbandry of the present ruler, 

 Luitpold, Prince Regent, much has been 

 done to improve matters and especially to 

 remove the heavy load of debt laid upon 

 the people by the vagaries of the unhappy 

 King Ludwig II. However, Bavaria is 

 not yet in such a position that the presence 

 of an additional million of dollars in the 

 treasury would be a matter of little im- 

 portance. In view of this, her conser- 

 vative management of the wealth of the 

 Spessart is all the more praisevy^orthy. 



The villages in the valleys of the Spes- 

 sart and upon the outskirts of the forest 

 owe their existence to the wood -^vorking 

 industries, which are the natui-al conse- 

 quence of the presence of so large a body 

 of marketable timber. There are several 

 saw mills w^here the Oak and Beech are 

 cut up, but the chief industry is the manu- 

 facture of oaken staves for wine casks, 

 \\-hich find ready sale in the vallevs of the 

 Main and the Rhine. Of the peasantry of 

 the Spessart and its environments, very 

 few are not connected in one way or an- 

 other with the manufacture of lumber or 

 staves or in getting out the raw material, 

 while the great majority are directly de- 

 pendent upon these sources of labor for 

 their daily bread. If the Bavarian gov- 

 ernment, therefore, were to .authorize the 

 cutting of all marketable timber in this 

 district, without regard to the maintenance 

 of a sustained annual yield, a large num- 

 ber of people would soon be thrown out 

 of employment and great suffering would 

 inevitably result. To realize fully how 

 severe this suffering would be, would en- 

 tail upon the reader some study of the 

 Bavarian peasant and the economic and 

 social conditions under which he lives. 

 His tools, his mode of life and his educa- 

 tion differ but little from those of his an- 

 cestors, and his language is scarcelv intel- 

 ligible to his own countrymen of a better 

 class. To such a man, the power to grap- 

 ple with new conditions, to seek a fresh 

 home and other means of employment, is 

 denied. And even were this not the case, 

 Germany, where the supply of labor ex- 

 ceeds the demand, in practically all the 

 trades and especially in the case of com- 



