FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 329 



sure, isolated tracts away from railroad or water, 

 sand-dunes, and rocky promontories exist in every 

 state, and the management of these poor forest 

 areas costs all the tract can bring and often more ; 

 but the wood is needed, the dune or waste is a 

 nuisance, and the state has found it profitable to 

 convert it into forest, even though the direct reve- 

 nue falls short of the expense. 



The unsatisfactory condition of many of the 

 private forests and their uneconomic exploitation, 

 due to the speculative spirit developed after the 

 Franco-German War, are deplored, exposed, and 

 discussed with a view of extending state supervision. 

 In Bavaria, in spite of severe prescriptions and in 

 spite of the assistance given by the state, which 

 distributed 127,000,000 plants during the years 

 1 893- 1 899, deforestation is in excess of reforesta- 

 tion, and the private forest diminishes. Similarly 

 in Prussia during the last twenty years over 75,000 

 acres were deforested by private owners, although 

 the state here too is exhausting all ameliorative and 

 persuasive means, which, however, remain ineffec- 

 tive. Hence the state buys the half-wastes, restocks 

 them at great expense, and thus public money 

 pays for pubHc folly in not restricting ill use of 

 forest properties. 



Of extra-European countries and nations, we 

 should at least mention /aj>an, as one that has had 

 a forest policy earlier than any of the European 

 nations, and has now as efScient and modern ap- 



