228 



FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



including maintenance of nurseries, seed and plant purchases, as well as planting', amount to only 

 12 cents an acre per year, or 1.8 per cent of the gross income, while for the last twenty years more 

 than twice this sum has been expended for construction and improvement of roads, the great 

 value of which are nowhere more fully recognized than in busy Saxony. 

 The financial results are exhibited in the following table: 



General financial results in the State forests of Saxony. 



Years. 



1817-1820 

 1827-lfw6 

 1837-1846 

 1847-185.? 

 1834-1803 

 1804-1873 

 1874-1SHJ 

 lbS4-l»93 









Per acio and year of total forest 



Annual 

 income 



Annual 



Annual 

 net in- 





art a. 



' 







(gross). 



expense. 



come. 

 $352, 000 



Income 

 (gross). 



Expense. 



Net in- 

 come. 



$649, 000 



$297, 000 



$1 75 



$0.80 



$0.95 



(502, 000 



321,000 



371, 000 



1 86 



.86 



1.00 



761,000 



342, 000 



410, 000 



2 02 



.90 



1.12 



970 000 



388, 000 



58S 000 



2 50 



1 02 



1.54 



1, 308, 000 



443 000 



925, 000 



3 53 



1 14 



2.39 



1, %6, 000 



505 000 



1,421,000 



4 91 



1.39 



3.52 



2 024, 000 



875 000 



1,749,000 



6 23 



2.08 



4.15 



2, 890, 000 



990, 000 



1, 894, 000 



6.60 



2.29 



4.37 



The extraordinary results indicated in the above table can not entirely be credited to the 

 increase of wood prices and the general depreciation of money during this century; they are 

 primarily the monetary expression of the improvements indicated in the previous tables; they 

 mean increased sales, and sales of older, larger, and better material. 



When it is considered that Saxony has taken in about $190,000,000 during the last fifty years 

 from a small area of rough lands (left waste in many countries, even in Europe), a tract of land 

 half the size of a good county in Wisconsin, the great advantage of a careful treatment of forest 

 areas mubt become clear to everyone. Considering the net income as the interest of the value of 

 the forest lands at the prevailing 3 per cent rate, the table shows that scientific care has increased 

 the value of these poor mountain lands from $100 to $150, whereas their deforestation would quickly 

 convert them into poor alpine pastures which would bankrupt their owners at $10 an acre. The 

 table also shows clearly that it is not accident, not merely a general improvement of the country, 

 but that it is careful, systematic work which has led to these improvements. When Saxony spent 

 only $1 on each acre of forest land she received only $1.54 net income; when she spent $2.39, her 

 net income was more than doubled, reaching during the ten years ending 1893 $4.37. 



' The following figures illustrate the nature and relative importance of the expenses per acre 

 as compared with the income, as well as the prices obtained for the material: 



Decade ending— 



Pi ice per 



cubic loot 



of wood 



o\ei J 



inches 



Wood 

 cut 



Gross 

 income. 



Total 



Foi ad- 



mmistia 



tion and 



piotcc 



tion 



Felling 



an' 1 

 moMiig 

 tmitui, 



etc 



Planting 



and other 



(ultuial 



work. 



CcnU 

 8 

 8 



10 

 11 

 13 

 10 

 13 

 14 



Itoads 



1826 



Cents 

 4.2 



4 7 



5 6 



6 



7 4 



8 1 

 0.4 



9 9 



Cubicfeet. 

 60 

 61 



£ G 

 64 



70 



82 



90 



90 



$1.75 



1 86 



2 02 

 2.56 



a 53 



4 91 

 6.23 

 0.6b 



$0.80 



SG 



90 



1 02 



1.14 



1 39 



2 08 

 2 29 



Cents. 

 38 



40 

 44 

 47 

 49 

 54 

 77 

 93 



Ccnth 

 30 

 31 

 31 

 37 

 45 

 02 

 92 

 95 



Gents. 



2 



5 



4 



5 



6 



11 



24 



26 



1836 



1846 „ 



1853 



1803 



1873 



1883 



1893 





From the above it appears that the prices of wood have doubled since 1817, but that during 

 the last twenty-five years they have remained practically constant. Part of this advance is due 

 to the general advance of prices, but part also to the improvement of the material sold. The 

 advance in the expenditure for administration since 1846 is due both to the advance in wages and 

 salaries generally (seen also in the advance of cutting expenses), but is also due to the greater 

 competence of the administration. Saxony, unlike Michigan and other States of this Unoin, 

 prefers to spend the money in protecting its forest rather than saving the expense and losing the 

 property. Of special interest is also the fact that even in this intensive management, where 

 almost every acre is reforested by planting with, nursery stock, the cultural operations, including 

 drainage and kindred expenses have varied only within a few cents per acre, involving during 



