77 



Bavaeia. 



The state forests are 3,000,000 acres. They return, after paying all expenses, about 

 $1.50 per acre per annum. About 30,000 acres are planted or sown annually, taking 

 35,000,000 plants and 1,000,000 lbs. seed. Persons found guilty of breach of forest rules 

 have been punished by enforced labour in the woods. Private forest rights are b^ng 

 bought up by the Government. 



The system of management is much the same as that previously'described. There is 

 a forest academy at Aschaflfenburg, with one hundred and sixty-five students. 



It will be interesting to notice the injury and process of repair in the fine forests of 

 the Spessart in Bevaria The deterioration was caused by felling the forest trees as soon 

 as, or before, they were mature, the impoverishment of the soil by the removal of leaves 

 and litter, and the allowing dense underwood to grow unchecked. Inferior trees got the 

 upper hand and prevented the growth of good, while they drained the already impover- 

 ished soil and gave nothing in return. Early in the present century the matter attracted 

 attention, and every means have since been adopted to grow oaks, beech, and coniferse. 

 The result is, though not yet equal to the uniformity of other forests, nowhere can 

 one find finer clumps and individual trees. Inferior trees will soon be rare in the whole 

 forest. In remote portions where the humus had not been destroyed, the growth of 

 beech and oak is truly magnificent, tracts of 120-year old beech and 300-year old oaks 

 being common, the latter with clear trunks running up to a hundred feet high. When we 

 compare these with. other portions where the crippled and stunted appearance of the trees 

 shows the efiect of unregulated grazing and loss of litter, burning of the decayed wood, 

 and forest theft and mischief, or the soil and vegetation, the result is marked. The cir- 

 cumstances, says the Indian Commissioner, are analogous with what has gone on in India 

 for centuries, amd is still more or less permitted. The vast extent of forests, which once 

 clothed the hill sides and extended far out on the plains, and the luxuriant growth of the 

 tropics, have hitherto, or until the last two years, prevented the gradual deterioration of 

 our forests being marked or felt, but the subject has now attracted attention, and none 

 . too soon. If any have doubts in the matter, let them visit the Spessart, study the history 

 of its forests and judge for themselves. 



The forests are sharply protected by law, the average number of prosecutions annu- 

 ally being thirty per thousand acres. The crimes are mischief to wood, pasture, grass, 

 straw, and miscellaneous. 



Austria. • 



Scientific forestry is not so far advanced as in Germany, but officials are busily intro- 

 ducing a reorganization, by means of which, there is no doubt, it will soon be on a par 

 with other states. 



The state forests have been largely sold to meet state necessities, but there still 

 remain nearly 2,000,000 productive acres, which yield, however, after expenses are paid, 

 little over twenty-five cents per acre. 



The existing establishments of forestry are not uniform, but there are about twelve 

 hundred employees, of whom twenty-two are forest-masters. Some of these have almost 



