FORESTRY IN GERMANY. 1 53 



From time to time devastations occur by caterpillars, wind or snow; 

 however, the damage is, in comparison to the whole area of the government 

 forests, hardly of any importance. But many private forests have been cut 

 down by the owners in order to secure larger sums of money by the sale of 

 the timber and firewood. In many cases the area thus cleared Jias been cul- 

 tivated for agricultural purposes, but now frequently, particularly when the 

 soil is sandy and barren, it remains uncultivated and becomes valueless. 



In this district, as before mentioned, the land being almost entirely level, 

 the consequences of the destruction of forests are not so fatal as in a moun- 

 tainous region where such destruction often causes the most dreadful inun- 

 dations and the devastation of large fertile tracts of land, which has several 

 times been the case in the south of France. 



Respecting forest planting on and ameliorating the sand dunes and waste 

 places,' I have already reported that the greatest care is taken by the govern- 

 ment and its forest officials to maintain the forests in a compact manner, 

 particularly along the coasts, to prevent the wind, waves and sand from enter- 

 ing and spreading in the interior. 



Some forests near the coasts being in possession of towns and villages, or 

 individuals, laws have been enacted by the legislative bodies to protect them 

 as much as possible; however, the result is far smaller than in the govern- 

 ment forests. 



TRADE IN TIMBER. 



The staves required for wine, spirit and beer casks are taken from the oak 

 forests, in which, at least in the government forests, young trees are carefully 

 planted as fast as the older ones are felled. The oak forests of Prussia not 

 being able to supply the number of staves required large quantities are im- 

 ported from Hungary. No import premiums are paid on timber; on the 

 contrary, by the laws of July 15, 1879, and May 22, r885, high import 

 duties have been imposed on timber in order to make the German forests 

 yield higher profits to the owners, and to enable the latter to compete with 

 the timber imported from foreign countries. The duties are as follows : 



Per festmeter. * 



Raw goods and oak staves M I.20 



Hewn timber 2.40 



Sawn goods 6.00 



Tha principal lumber market of this district is Dantzig. The exports 

 from that point in 1886 were 273,000 festmeters, or 191,100 loads (one load 

 is 50 cubic feet), as follows: 



Per cent. 



Africa 04 



Germany 12 



Belgium 10 



England 42 



Per cent. 



Denmark 10 



Holland 05 



France 16 



Spain 01 



* One festmeter — 35M cubic feet. 



