Forest Practice. 239 



200 miles from the nearest town and 60 miles from the 

 nearest road. His fimction is mainly to protect the 

 property, to supervise the cutting and sales, and to teach 

 the people the need of conservative methods. In spite 

 of this insufficient service considerable reduction in 

 forest fires and theft has been attained. 



Beyond restriction of waste by axe and fire, and con- 

 servative lumbering of the State forest, positive 

 measures for reproduction have hardly yet been intro- 

 duced, both personnel and wood values being insufficient 

 for more intensive management. 



At present, with a cut hardly exceeding 100 million 

 cubic feet, the revenue is still almost nominal, say 

 $300,000. 



Selection forest is, of course, the rule, but since no 

 trees are marked and cut less than 10 inch diameter at 

 25 feet from the ground ( !), at least the possibility for 

 improved management will not be destroyed when, 

 through the exhaustion of the private forests and in- 

 creased wood prices, more intensive management has 

 become practicable. 



Where the market is good, a clearing system with 

 100-160 year rotation is practised; on the clearings 

 about 20 seed trees are left, and after 6 years the natural 

 regeneration is repaired by planting. 



This latter method is especially prescribed on the 

 government farms. These form an interesting part of 

 the State property, some 900 small farms with woodlots 

 aggregating over 500,000 acres, mostly in the southern 

 districts. These came into existence in the 17th and 

 18th centuries, being granted as fiefs to officers of the 



