276 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



In the budget for 1902, of $2,800,000 appro- 

 priated for the state forest department, $1,000,000 

 was set aside for the extension of state forests 

 and necessary improvements in those now existing. 

 The state now owns about 2,800,000 acres, — some- 

 what over 12 per cent of the total forest area, — 

 managed by a staff of 700 officials and protected 

 by 3500 guards. 



In addition, private forest property is absolutely 

 controlled as regards clearing ; no clearing may be 

 done without notice to the government authorities, 

 and in the mountain districts not without special 

 sanction by the same. 



This control is especially stringent with refer- 

 ence to the holdings of village and city corporations, 

 which represent over 27 per cent of the forest area. 

 These must submit their plans of management to 

 the state forest department for approval, and are 

 debarred from dividing their property, thus insur- 

 ing continuity of ownership and conservative man- 

 agement. 



The necessity for such control became apparent 

 in the first quarter of the century, when, as a 

 consequence of reckless denudation in the Alps, 

 Cdvennes, and Pyrenees, whole communities be- 

 came impoverished by the torrents which destroyed 

 and silted over the fertile lands at the foot of the 

 mountains. Some 8,000,000 acres of once fertile 

 soil in twenty departments were involved in these 

 disastrous consequences of forest destruction on 



