386 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Deprive Germany of her forests and you will produce many paupers. Were the 

 peasants allowed their own way they would cut and slash regardless. They would 

 soon use the money, and soon find themselves paupers in an impoverished country. 

 This, a paternal government wisely prevents. The German forest is a perpetual liv- 

 ing resource. The increment alone is cut, the principal must remain forever intact. 



Photos Nos. i, 7, 8 and g illustrate the small size of the material which is used in 

 Europe, and the nature of a great deal of the labor. 



Nos. I and 8 are Italian pictures, near Pisa. This is grandmother's work. They 

 come into town with immense loads of brush wood for fuel. In Italy, where wood 

 is scarce, it is bought and sold by weight. It is usually well wet when sold. In No. 

 i the poorest stage is shown. Attached to each bunch is a wooden prop so that 

 they can rest their weary backs without dropping the load. In No. 8 the women 

 wear shoes and possess a wagon. The next step is where the vender owns a donkey. 

 In the distance are mounted soldiers. This naturally consumes much of the best 

 labor of the country, and leaves the women to do most of the hard work. This is not 

 confined to Southern Europe ; it is so throughout the whole of the continent. No. 12 

 is a scene in Finland, showing women at work in the field binding the grain which 

 has been cut with a scythe. In the background is a fine young forest of spruce. 



Italy is a good type of those old southern countries which have consumed their 

 supply of wood. One can learn quite as much in Italy as in Germany. One can see 

 the effects of deforestation, and the possibilities of reforestation as at Vallambrosa. 

 The people of Italy are on the whole good, but the government is bad. The people 

 are industrious and frugal. Their valleys and hillsides are covered with orchards 

 and vineyards. Horticulture and agriculture are extensively developed, but their 

 mountain tops are neglected and bald. What they are capable of being is shown at 

 Vallambrosa (No. 2). 



No. 16 shows the Royal Italian Forestry School at Vallambrosa. It is beautifully 

 located in the midst of forests planted long ago by the patient and industrious 

 monks. Vallambrosa was once a famous monastery. It must not be forgotten that 

 many of Europe's finest forests originated in this way. Just as the monks kept 

 agriculture alive through dark and rebellious times, so with forestry ; more so, in 

 fact, because they became in time the custodians and owners of vast areas of forest 

 land. Many of the buildings and much of the land now used for forestry purposes 

 in Europe were once the property of the church. No. 2 gives a better view of the 

 school at Vallambrosa. It seems strange to enter the dining hail and refectory of 

 this old monastery and see students of forestry instead of monks. The pictures of 

 the monks adorn the walls ; but it is the vast stretches of magnificent forests and 

 the great solid walls which stand as a monument to their industry and skill. 



