75 



attached, remarkable for the growth of Scotch fir and spruce on a poor sandy soil, and ia 

 spite of repeated attacks by insects. 



Nothing is more remarkable than the extent of study required from forest candi- 

 dates, and the number of years they are content to spend in studying or waiting an 

 appointment. The would-be over-forester, which is the lowest of the gazetted appoint- 

 ments, must pass certain terms at a Government school, a year in a district with an over- 

 forester, an examination as forest-pupil, two years at a forest academy, an examination, 

 in scientific forestry and land surveying. He is then a forest-candidate. Then two 

 years practical study, nine months of it doing duty as an actual forester ; then another 

 examination. He is now an over-forester candidate. The first examination tests liis. 

 theory ; the second his practice. Then he will be occasionally employed in the academies,, 

 or in charge of a district, only then getting allowances. After five years of this he may 

 look for steady employment. 



Thus five years without pay are given in study; five in probation with but meagre 

 pay when employed, and the time is often longer, before regularly installed. Yet so 

 great is the desire for Government — especially forest — service, that there are numerous 

 candidates. 



The qualifications for admission into the subordinate grades — forester, sub-forester,, 

 overseer — have a military tendency. Candidates", after two years in the forest, enter a 

 jager battalion, and bind themselves for twelve years' service. After three years they 

 obtain leave, and are employed in the forest as huntsmen or gamekeepers. After eight, 

 years they must have passed the forester's test, which consists in six months' charge of a 

 district, and an examination. At the end of twelve years they are discharged with a. 

 certificate entitling them to employment in the forest establishments. The appointments 

 are much sought after, and in 1867 there were two hundred and twenty-one applicants, 

 for one hundred and forty -five vacancies; but many are absorbed by communal and private 

 forests. 



In some provinces the Prussian Government has certain rights concerning the man- 

 agement of even private forests — in others none. 



While on the subject of Prussia, it may be well here to insert some extracts from a 

 letter received from Baron Von Steuben, a Prussian nobleman, now Royal Chief Forester- 

 of the German Empire, by the Forestry Congress, at Cincinnati, in April of last year. 

 He remarks : — 



" There can be no doubt that every country requires a certain quantity of well-stocked 

 woods, not only to supply the demands for building material and fuel, but more especially 

 to secure suitable meteorological conditions, to preserve the fertility of the soil, and out 

 of sanitary considerations. The ratio of the minimum quantity and judicious local distri- 

 bution of the indispensable forest to the aggregate area cannot be expressed by a universal 

 rule, but the same can only be approximated by scientific investigation. Above all 

 things, it is essential to prevent forest destruction where such would injuriously affect the 

 fertility of the soil. It is important, then, to preserve and to cultivate judiciously those- 

 forests which stand at the head-waters and on the banks of the larger streams, because, 

 through their indiscriminate destruction, fluctuations in the stage of water, sand-bars, and 

 inundations of arable lands are occasioned. It appears also necessary to preserve and 

 properly to cultivate woods in quicksands, or the summits and ridges, as well as on th& 

 steep sides of mountains, along the sea coasts, and other exposed localities. 



