EUROPEAN FOREfeT POLICIES. 209 



item of 1,000,000 marks aimually for this purpose; and although over 22,000,000 marks and nearly 

 20,000 acres of land have been spent for this purpose in Bavaria, the State forests there aie still 

 most heavily burdened with servitudes. 



The doctrine of the regal right to the chase, as we have seen, led to the gradual assertion of 

 all property rights to the forest itself, or at least to the exclusive control of its use. This right 

 found expression in a legion of forest ordinances in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which 

 aimed at the conservation and improvement of forest areas, abounding in detailed technical 

 precepts. 



At first treating the private interest with some consideration, they gradually more and more 

 restrict free management. Prohibition of absolute clearing, or at least only with the permission 

 of the government; the command to reforest cleared and waste places; to foster the young 

 growth; limiting the quality of timber to be felled; preventing devastation by prohibiting the 

 pasturing of cattle in the young growth, of the removal of the forest litter, of pitch gathering, 

 etc., were among these prescriptions, and many others, such as prescribing the manner and time 

 of felling, the division into regular felling lots, determination as to what is to be cut as firewood 

 and what as building timber. Then, with the increasing fear of a reduction in supplies, followed 

 prohibitions against exportation, against sale of woodlands to foreigners, against speculation in 

 timber by providing schedules of prices, and from time to time entire exclusion from sale of some 

 valuable species. Even the consumer was restricted and controlled in the manner of using wood. 



In mediaeval times, besides private forests of the King and lords, only the communal forest 

 (allmende) was known, and small holdings of farmers were comparatively rare until the end of 

 the Middle Ages. 



The thirty years' war and the following troublesome times gave rise not only to extended 

 forest devastation, but also to many changes in ownership of woodlands. With the growing 

 instability of communal organization of the " mark," division of the common property took place, 

 and thus private ownership by small farmers came about, reducing the communal holdings. 

 Colonization schemes by holders of large estates also led to dismemberment. 



A very large amount of the mark forest came into possesssion of the princes and noblemen 

 by force, and later possessions of the princes were increased by the secularization of the property 

 of monasteries and churches. Until the end of the last century these domains belonged to the 

 family of the prince, just as the right to the throne or the governing of the little dukedom, 

 contributing toward the expenses of government. 



But when, as a consequence of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars and 

 subsequent changes, the conception of the rights of the governing classes changed, and in some 

 States like Prussia much earlier, a division of domains into those which belonged to the prince's 

 family as private property and those which were State forests was effected, so that now the 

 following classes of forest property may be distinguished : 



(1) State forests, which are administered by the government for the benefit of the common- 

 wealth, each State of the Confederation owning and administering its own. 



(2) Imperial forests, belonging to and administered for the benefit of the Empire, situated in 

 the newly acquired province of Alsace-Lorraine. 



(3) Crown forests (Fidei-commiss), the ownership of which remains in the reigning family, 

 administered by State government, but the revenues of which are in part applicable to government 

 expenses. 



(4) Princely domains, which are the exclusive and private property of the prince. 



(5) Communal forests possessed by and administered by and for the benefit of village and 

 city communities, or even provinces as a whole. 



(0) Association forests, the owners of the old " mark ?? forests, possessed by a number of 

 owners, the State sometimes being part owner. 



(7) Institute and corporation, school or bequest forests, which belong to incorporated institu- 

 tions, like churches, hospitals, and other charitable institutions. 



(8) Private forests, of larger or smaller extent, the exclusive property of private owners. 

 The proportions of these classes of property which existed in the beginning of the century 



H. Doc. 181 14 



