l8 HISTORY. 



other value. Their products could be taken and sold under judicious re- 

 strictions without injury to them as game preserves or to their per- 

 manence as forests. Here we find the first evidence of the use of for- 

 ests as a continuous source of revenue. Both kings and nobles counted 

 their forests as income bearing resources. The evolution of European 

 society gradually diminished the value of the feudal system and finally 

 made it an impediment to human progress. The power of the nobles 

 went first and that of kings or hereditary rulers is gone in some coun- 

 tries and with the present social movement continued, will go every- 

 where. With the elimination of the useful action of the feudal lord 

 went his fortune also. Forests were sold for court expenses or other 

 extravagance, 'i hese forests were first cut off and then in many cases 

 entirely destroyed as to new growth by continuous sheep pasturing. 



RESULTS OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 



Observers and travelers had already commenced to note the serious 

 results of forest destruction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

 Men like Arthur Young have left us accounts of what was happening 

 in Europe at that time. The center and south of France and Spain 

 are the principal countries in which injury was then noted as resulting 

 from forest destruction. The creation of torrents and intensification 

 of flood action and the reduced navigability of rivers due to deposits 

 of detritus and diminished perennial flow of water were first observed. 

 Later came the appreciation of climatic change, especially the increase 

 of fro.sts and warm winter spells. These changes continually moved 

 the northern limit of profitable growing of various fruits and crops to 

 the south. Amongst the more notable instances of this is the shrink- 

 age of the olive-growing area in France. At the time of the French 

 revolution the causes of forest destruction were rapidly increased. 

 The lands of the nobles were appropriated and forests were cut wher- 

 ever there was a market for wood. This market was best of course in 

 those districts with the least wood — the very ones where the forests 

 were at a minimum and where in many cases the forest cutting meant 

 total denudation of the water sheds. The results of this forest de- 

 struction were disastrous in Provence. Districts were depopulated, ex- 

 tensive productive areas became deserts of wash, boulders and detr.tus 

 from torrent action and the productive output of the district was ma- 

 terially diminished. It was a series of such serious results that finally 

 forced the great central European powers into a rational system of 

 forestry. Commencing with France forestry has spread even to India 



