156 FORESTRY IN GERMANY. 



The principal forest laws of Wiirtemberg, which I herewith enclose, 

 consist of — 



1. The penal forest law of Sept. 2, 1879. 



2. The forest police law of Sept. 8, 1879. 



3. The law on common forests of August 16, 1875. 



The law on common forests is of special importance, as the common for- 

 ests embrace nearly one-third of the total area covered with forests and 

 represent a value of about forty million dollars. By said law the state asserts the 

 right of providing in the interest of the communities that the cultivation and 

 administration of common forests be based on scientific principles and entrusted 

 either to experts, appointed by the community, orto government foresters. 



The following figures show the kinds of culture in the government forests : 



Culture of large trees growing foraperiod from 80-120 years 97t1t P^'' <^^°'- 



Culture of middle-growth and under-growth growing for a period from S-30 years 2^ per cent. 



The planting of shoots is now the generally adopted method of culture, 

 while the method of sowing is getting more and more out of use. A great 

 number of nurseries are attached to the government forest, the proportion 

 being ij^ acres of nursery to 1,000 acres of forest. The area sown in gov- 

 ernment forests in 1884 was 1,075 acres, (including 532 acres of nurseries), 

 requiring 217 cwt. of seeds, while the area planted with shoots was 3,820 

 acres, requiring seventeen million shoots. The total expense for cultivating 

 the said 4,895 acres of ground amounted to 165,417, or ^13.36 per acre. 



The forest laws of Wurtemberg prohibit the destruction of forests (includ- 

 ing common and private forests) without the consent of the government. 

 Every application for destruction of forests is carefully considered in all direc- 

 tions and only consented to if the destruction does not injure any public 

 interests. I applied to the board of government forests in order to know the 

 proportion of destruction of forests to reclamation of ground by tree-planting, 

 and I was informed that at present the latter approximately equals the former. 

 The board added that proprietors will . resort to tree-planting in cases where 

 agriculture yields less profit than forest culture. 



By far the greatest part of the lumber supply consists of home produce. 

 The lumber cut in the Wiirtemberg forests is generally sold by auction. In 

 1884 the average prices at sales by auction were, per cubic meter or 35^ cubic 

 feet: 



Lumber from oaks J6 ly 



Lumber from evergreens 3 04 



Logs from beeches i 47 



Logs from evergreens .• i 02 



In 1884 the exports of lumber from Wiirtemberg amounted to 157,031 

 EngHsh tons; the imports to 128,237 English tons; surplus of exports, 

 28,794 English tons. 



In 1885 exports amounted to 144,716 tons; imports, 127,930 tons; sur- 

 plus of exports, 16,786 tons. 



