FORESTRY IN SWITZERLAND. 207 



of the salary. Tlie proportional voice in voting, as well as in paying, shall be determined on 

 a ratio of the area represented. Private individuals may, with the consent of the township or 

 corporations, transfer to the latter's foresters the care of their forests, in which case they shall 

 arrange with said township or corporation what they are to pay. 



17. Applicants for the position of overforester must furnish proof of their competency in 

 the form of an essay to be submitted to the overforestmaster. Special instructions as to the 

 nature of such essay will be furnished in an order from the direction of the interior. As 



conditions of eligibility as forester, active citizenship, a good physical constitution, and " 



knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic will be required. 



18. Elections of overforesters and foresters by boards of overseers of townships and cor- 

 porations are subject to examination and confirmation by the direction of the interior. To this 

 end certificates stating the manner of election, name, age, and former employment of the candi- 

 date, and the annual salary pertaining to the position, shall be forwarded, through the statt- 

 halter's offices, to the direction of the interior. The examination by the latter covers in part 



' the validity of the elections and in part the existence of the lawful qualifications, and it is or- 

 dered that confirmation be withheld where a candidate has previously been convicted of 

 serious violations of or misdemeanors against forestry regulations. After confirmation the 

 newly-elected candidate is ordered to be sworn (oaths are no longer administered, the," hand 

 vow," as it is called, having been substituted), which duty is to be performed by the statthalt- 

 er's office. Private owners appointing foresters must have them sworn by the statthalter's 

 office. 



19. Sworn forestry employes stand, in regard to the performance of police duties, on an 

 equal footing with police employes. The same official credit is consequently to be accorded 

 to their reports, made under the provisions of article 96 and the following articles of this law, 

 as would be accorded to the same if made by the police officers. 



20. It shall be the duty of foresters in the cantonal, township, and corporation forests to 

 attend a course of instruction on the subject of forestry, to be provided by the direction of the 

 interior and imparted by the forestmasters. They may be required by the direction of the 

 interior to attend a second course when a previous examination shall have proved unsatisfac- 

 tory. They receive their service instructions from the direction of the interior. Foresters in 

 private forests shall be allowed to participate in the courses of instruction referred to. 



21. The consent of the direction of the interior is necessary whenever the overforestmas- 

 ter, forestmasters, or foresters in cantonal forests desire to fill any other official position or fol- 

 low any other pursuit in conjunction with their position as stated. Overforesters and foresters 

 in township and corporation forests cannot at the same time be members of their election 

 boards. Before entering upon any other township office or service they must procure the con- 

 sent of the direction of the interior. 



22. The following of any business in wood or manufactured woodenware, or of any in- 

 dustry in which wood is the leading material, is unconditionally forbidden for all persons in 

 the cantonal, township, and corporation forestry service. 



II. — Maintenance of forests. 

 A. — General regulations. 



23. Cantonal, township, and corporation forests shall be stringently maintained, and the 

 plans therefor shall be elaborated in accordance with this principal decree. For insuring the 

 area and the establishment of an assured plan of maintenance for the same, these forests shall 

 be marked off and surveyed according to existing regulations for that purpose. 



24. Where cantonal, township, or corporation forests border upon others, it shall be the duty 

 of each adjacent owner to keep open a common line of demarkation at least 3 feet in width, 

 to which each shall contribute one-half, and so laid out that each stone post can easily be seen 

 from the other. In onder that this may also be possible where the forest borders on a meadow 

 or other piece of land, the border line must always be kept clear. The stone posting must 

 be carefully maintained, and where border' marks are lacking they must at once be replaced. 



