27 



are supervised. This plan of protection covers 84 per cent of the 

 whole forest area. In these forests clearings can be made only by 

 permit and all cutting must be done in accordance with approved 

 working plans. Over 200,000 acres of State forests and 500,000 acres 

 of private forests are now more or less completely organized. The 

 main obstacle in the way of perfecting forest management is the lack 

 of transportation facilities. Only 65 per cent of the State forests can 

 now be worked. 



Since 1892, 2 per cent of the gross returns from the forests have 

 been set aside as a forest improvement fund. 



The State forests yield about $1,000,000 a year, a net return of 30 

 cents per acre. The State has reclaimed 18*,000,000 acres of sand 

 dunes by forest planting and has forested 9,000 acres of other land. 

 The forest nurseries in which the stock is grown cover 330 acres. 



Some of the large private forests, particularly that of Princess 

 Schoenburg, are carefully managed. 



The government distributes forest seeds and seedlings to com- 

 munes, corporations, and schools. For four years past foresters have 

 been sent to xlustria, Germany, and France for the purpose of study- 

 ing the methods of forest planting followed in those countries, and 

 many students have been placed in the western forest schools, who 

 later will enter the Roumanian forest administration. 



CHINA. 



China holds a unique position as the only civilized country which 

 has persistently destroyed its forests. What forestry has done in 

 other countries stands out in bold relief against the background of 

 China, whose hills have been largely stripped clean of all vegetation 

 and whose soil is almost completely at the mercy of the floods. Trees 

 have been left only where they could not be reached. Almost the sole 

 use for lumber is the manufacture of coffins. The heavy 2 or 3 inch 

 planks for this purpose are so scarce, and the cost of transporting 

 them by coolies is so high, that they sell for $2 or $3 apiece. 



Xowhere in the world is the forest cleaned off down to the very 

 soil as it is in China. Wlien the trees are gone the saplings, the 

 shrubs, and even the herbage are taken. Slender poles are used to 

 build houses; inconsiderable shrubs are |:urned into charcoal. In 

 the lower mountains of northeastern China, where the stripping 

 process has reached its extreme phase, there is no trace of anything 

 worthy of the name of forest. In the graveyards and courts of the 

 temples a few aged cedars have been preserved by the force of public 

 opinion, and poplars and fruit trees planted about dwellings are 

 protected as private property by the peasant owners. 



In the province of Shantung, where deforestation is practically 

 complete, fuel and fodder for cattle are literally scratched from the 



[Cir. 140] 



