Restrictions in Forest Use. 47 
ting of May trees, similar to our crusade against the use 
of Christmas trees. A diameter limit to which trees 
might be permitted to be cut, was also frequently urged. 
Regulation of forest use did not confine itself to the 
princely properties alone, but, in the interest of the 
whole, the restrictions were extended to all owners. 
These restrictions were directed either to the practice 
in the exploitation of the forest or to the use of the 
material. In the latter direction the attempts at re- 
ducing the consumption of building timber are of 
special interest. Building inspectors were to approve 
building plans and inspect buildings to see that 
they were most economically constructed; that repairs 
were made promptly, to avoid the necessity of more ex- 
tensive ones; that new buildings replacing old ones were 
not built higher than the old ones. In Saxony, as early 
as 1560, it was ordered that the whole house must be 
built of stone, while elsewhere, the building of stone 
base walls and the use of brick roofs instead of shingles 
was insisted upon. 
Even the number of houses in any community was 
restricted. Fences were to be supplanted by hedges and 
ditches. 
Economies in charcoal burning, in potash manufac- 
ture for glass and in the turpentine industry were pre- 
scribed, and about 1600, the burning of potash for fer- 
tilizer was forbidden entirely, but these laws proved un- 
availing. Even in fuel-wood a saving was to be effected 
by using only the poorer woods and windfalls, by insti- 
tuting public bake ovens (still in use in Westphalia), 
by improving stoves, restricting the number of bathing 
rooms, etc. 
