1 86 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



600,372,000 cubic feet. If Germany were to supply this deficiency of 353,560,000 

 cubic feet of timber from her own soil she would need an additional acreage of 

 19,768,000 acres. In other words, the percentage of soil now devoted to forestry 

 would have to be increased from 26 per cent to 40 per cent. But it is claimed 

 that throughout all this empire not more than 2,471,000 acres fit for that purpose 

 might be found. Even if every available nook and corner were thus utilized, and 

 all of the waste lands that are not well adapted for agriculture were planted in 

 pine and other forest trees, it would require, on an average, fifty years for them 

 to be ready for market, and then the supply would not begin to equal the 

 demand. Of all sections of Germany only Bavaria and Wiirtemberg have a 

 surplusage of home lumber, all the other districts needing a great deal more than 

 they can ever produce."* 



In Germany timber is not purchased by mill owners as in America, by general 

 estimate. It is the. custom to buy individual trees rather than forests. There is, 

 however, in common use a market unit of volume by which timber is generally 

 purchased called the "festmeter." It is a cubic meter and is equivalent to 1.44 

 markets, or 19-inch standards, or about 288 feet, board, measure. But it is not 

 used in quite the same way as we use the standard. In America, large and small 

 logs are scaled and sold together, distinction seldom being made in the price per 

 standard. In Germany, when the trees are felled, each one is marked with a 

 number stamped in the butt. They are then sold by number in five or six classes, 

 according to size, the larger logs bringing more per festmeter than the smaller 

 ones. Logs are generally measured in the middle. 



An idea of the activity of the German market for building material may be 

 gained by a study of the following prices offered for spruce by a sawmill 

 at Hasserode, in the Hartz, in 1904. Timber is purchased in the woods in 

 full-tree lengths, felled and trimmed of branches. For tree trunks containing 

 530 feet, board measure, $12 each; 450 feet, $10.25; 3&3 feet, $8.63; 325 feet, 

 $7.38; 276 feet, $5.12; 233 feet, $4.25 ; 196 feet, $3.63 ; 161 feet, $3; 132 feet, $2; 104 

 feet, $1.50; 81 feet, $1.25. In other words, $22.65 P er 1, 000 feet, board measure, 

 was offered for tree trunks containing more than 300 feet; $18.56 for trunks with 

 from 150 to 300 feet, and for smaller sizes about $15. 



For poles suitable for rafters, if 23 feet long, $1 each; if 20 feet long, 75 cents; 

 if 17 feet long, 52 cents; if 13 feet long, 43 cents; if 10 feet long, 25 cents. 



In the Spessart, oak was quoted in 1904 at the following prices for sound 

 timber per 1,000 feet, board measure: Trees with middle diameter 24 inches and 



* United States Consular Reports, 1901. Vol LXV, p. 490. "German Market for American 

 Lumber," by Henry W. Diederich. 



