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protective forests was provided for by Bavaria in 1852, by Prus- 
sia in 1875, and by Wiirttemberg in 1879. 
Each State of the German federation administers its own for- 
ests. All of the States practice forestry with success. The re- 
sults obtained by Prussia and Saxony are particularly interesting, 
for they show how forests may be kept constantly improving un- 
der a system of management which yields a handsome profit. 
The Prussian forests, covering nearly 7,000,000 acres, are made 
up much as if we should combine the pineries of the Southern 
States with the forests of some of our Middle Atlantic and Central 
States. When forestry was begun a great part of them had been 
injured by mismanagement, much as our forests have been, and 
the Prussian foresters had to solve the problem of improving the 
run-down forests out of the returns from those which were still 
in good condition. They solved it with striking success. Im- 
mense improvement has already taken place and is steadily going 
on. 
The method of management adopted calls for a sustained yield 
— that is, no more wood is cut than the forest produces. Under 
this management the growth of the forest, and consequently the 
amount cut, has risen sharply. In 1830 the yield was 20 cubic 
feet per acre; in 1865, 24 cubic feet; in 1890, 52 cubic feet, and 
1904, 65 cubic feet. In other words, Prussian forest manage- 
ment has multiplied the rate of production threefold in seventy- 
five years. And the quality of the product has improved with the 
quantity. Between 1830 and 1904 the percentage of saw timber 
rose from 19 per cent, to 54 per cent. 
It is a striking fact in this connection that in the United States 
at the present time we are using about three times as much timber 
as our forests grow. If we were everywhere practiciug forestry 
with a resulting improvement equal to that made in Prussia, our 
forests would be growing as much as we use. 
The financial returns in Prussia make an even better showing. 
Net returns per acre in 1850 were 28 cents. In 1865 tne y were 
72 cents ; in 1900, $1.58 ; and in 1904, $2.50. They are now nearly 
ten times what they were sixty years ago, and they are increasing 
more rapidly than ever. 
These results have been obtained in Prussia along with almost 
ideal technical success. When what is wanted is a sustained yield 
from the forest year by year in the long run, it is clearly neces- 
sary to have always a certain number of trees ready to be cut; 
there must be a proper proportion of trees of all ages. This per- 
centage has been secured and maintained with almost mathe- 
matical accuracy. 
In Saxony, which has about 430,000 acres of State forests, the 
increase of cut under forest management, which always means 
also a corresponding increase in wood produced, has been nearly 
as marked as in Prussia. The yield rose 55 per cent, between 
1820 and 1904, and is now 93 cubic feet per acre — greater than 
