THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 31 



In one small village of Pomerania (Prussia), 

 the amount paid for huckleberries which the 

 poor population gathers in the forest amounts to 

 ^20,000 or ^30,000 a year. In another small 

 forest district it is calculated that the berry and 

 mushroom harvests represent to the gatherers an 

 annual income of ^22,500, showing that even the 

 revenues derived from the minor products of the 

 forest may attain a considerable economic signifi- 

 cance. ■ 



What relative position from the standpoint of 

 wealth production the forest resources and their 

 exploitation take in the household of the nation 

 may best be learned from a comparison with other 

 sources of wealth and their production, considering 

 the revenues from the different forms of wealth, the 

 capital invested, the value of product, the number 

 of people employed, and the wages paid. Unfor- 

 tunately for such comparisons the data are, at 

 least in our own country, but unsatisfactory, 

 since the statistics of an industry like the forest 

 industries, which are largely removed from centres 

 of production, and in which a large number of 

 people are occupied only occasionally and for 

 parts of the year, are necessarily deficient and 

 must remain below the truth to an uncertain 

 extent. 



It is, for instance, impracticable to ascertain the 

 amounts of wood cut and used on farms for home 

 consumption, or to apportion the employment of 



