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RETURN TO
ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

ITHACA, N. Y.

 
ersi

Introduction to the study of modern fore

ION

iii”

3
INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY EXHIBITION.

—_____@—__-—___

WORKS ON FOREST SCIENCE.

By tat REV. J. C. BROWN, LL.D.
0
EpinsureH : OLIVER & BOYD.

Lonpon : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., anp W. RIDER & SON.
MontreaL: DAWSON, BROTHERS.

OO

I.—Introcuction to the Study of Modern Forest
Economy. Price 5s.

In this there are brought under consideration the exten-
sive destruction of forests which has taken place in Europe
and elsewhere, with notices of disastrous consequences
which have followed—diminished supply of timber and
firewood, droughts, floods, landslips, and sand-drifts—and
notices of the appliances of Modern Forest Science success-
fully to counteract these evils by conservation, planting, and
improved exploitation, under scientific administration and
management.

ExTRACT FROM PREFAcE.—‘ At a meeting held on the 28th of March
last year (1883), presidéd over by the Marquis of Lothian, while the
assemblage was representative of all interests—scientific, practical, and
professional—it was resolved :—‘‘That it is expedient in the interests
of torestry, and to promote a movement for the establishment of a
National School of Forestry in Scotland, as well as with a view of
furthering and stimulating a greater improvement in the scientific
management of woods in Scotland and the sister countries which has
manifested itself during recent years, that there should be held in Edin-
burgh, during 1884, and at such season of the year as may be arranged,
an International Exhibition of forest products and other objects of
interest connected with forestry.” It was then moved, seconded, and
agreed :—‘‘ That this meeting pledges itself to give its hearty co-opera-
tion and patronage to the promotion of an International Forestry Exhibi-
tion in Edinburgh in 1884; and those present resolve to give their best
efforts and endeavours to render the Exhibition a success, and of such
importance and general interest as to make it worthy of the name of
International.” ‘

‘It isin accordance with this resolution, and in discharge of obligations
which it imposed, that this volume has been prepared.’

 

 
2

IIl._The Forests of England; and the Management ot
them in Bye-gone Times. Price 6s.

Ancient forests, chases, parks, warrens, and woods, are
described ; details are given of destructive treatment to
which they have been subjected, and of legislation and
literature relating to them previous to the present
century.

Extract From Prerace.—‘ Contrast with this [the paucity of works
in English on Forest Science], the richness of Continental languages in
literature on such subjects. Ihave had sent to me lately Ofversight of
Svenska Skogsliteraturen, Bibliografiska Studieren of Axel Cnattingius, a
list of many books and papers on Forest Science published in Sweden ;
I have also had sent to me a work by Don José Jordana y Morera,
Ingenero de Montes, under the title of Apuntes Bibliographico Forestale,
a catalogue raisonné of 1126 printed books, MSS., &., in Spanish, on
subjects connected with Forest Science.

-*Tam at present preparing for the press a report on measures adopted
in France, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere, to arrest and utilise drift-
sand by planting them with grasses and trees ; and in Der Huropaeische
Flug-sand und Seine Cultur, von Josef Wessely General Domaenen-
Inspecktor, und Forst-Academie-Direktor, published in Vienna in 1873,
T find a list of upwards of 100 books and papers on that one department
of the subject, of which 30, in Hungarian, Latin, and German, were
published in Hungary alone.

‘ According to the statement of one gentleman, to whom application
was made by a representative of the Government at the Cape, for infor-
mation in regard to what suitable works on Forest Economy could be
procured from Germany, the works on Forst- Wissenchaft, Forest Science,
and Forst- Wirthchaft, Forest Economy, in the German language may be
reckoned by cartloads. From what I know of the abundance of works
in German, on subjects connected with Forestry, I am not surprised
that such a report should have been given, And with the works in
German may be reckoned the works in French.

‘In Hermann Schmidt’s Fach Katalogue, published in Prague last
year (1876), there were given the titles, &c., of German works in Forst und
Jagd-Literatur, published from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, to the 3lst of
Gctober of the latter year, amounting in all to 650, exclusive of others
given in an appendix, containing a selection of the works published
prior to 1870. They are classified thus :—General Forest Economy, 93 ;
Forest Botany, 60 ; Forest History and Statistics, 50 ; Forest Legislation
and Game Laws, 56; Forest Mathematics, 25; Forest Tables and
Measurements, &c., 148; Forest Technology, 6; Forest Zoology, 19;
Peat and Bog Treatment, 14; Forest Calendars, 6; Forest and Game
Periodicals, 27 ; Forest Union and Year Books, 13; Game, 91; Forest
and Game in Bohemian, 44. In all, 652. Upwards of a hundred new
works had been published annually. Amongst the works mentioned is

‘a volume entitled Die Literatur der letaten sieben Jahre (1862-1872) aus
3

dem Gesammtgebiete der Land-und Forst-wirthschaft mit Hinschluss der
landw. Geweber u. der Jagd, in deutscher, franzdsischer u englisher
Sprache Herausg. v. d. Buchandl, v. Gerold and Co., in Wein, 1873, a
valuable catalogue filling 278 pages in large octavo.

‘ This volume is published as a small contribution to the literature of
Britain, on subjects pertaining to Forest Science.

‘It is atter due consideration that the form given to the work— that
of a compilation of what has been stated in works previously published
—has been adopted.

III.—Forestry of Norway. Price 5s.

There are described in successive chapters the general
features of the country. Details are given of the geo-
graphical distribution of forest trees, followed by discussions
of conditions by which this has been determined—heat,
moisture, soil, and exposure. The effects of glacial action
on the contour of the country are noticed, with accounts
of existing glaciers aud snow-fields, And information is
supplied in regard to forest exploitation and the transport
of timber, in regard to the export timber trade, to public
instruction in sylviculture, and to forest administration,
and to ship-building and shipping.

Extract rrom Prerace.—‘In the spring of 1877, while measures
were being taken for the formation of an Arboretum in Edinburgh, I
issued a pamplet entitled The Schools of Forestry in Europe: a Plea
for the Creation of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretum
in Edinburgh. After it was made known that arrangements were being
carried out for the formation of an International Exhibition of forest
products, arid other objects of interest connected with forestry, in Edin-
burgh with a view to promoting the movement for the establishment
of a National School of Forestry in Scotland, and with a view of
furthering and stimulating a greater improvement in the scientific
management of woods in Scotland, and the sister countries, which has
manifested itself during recent years, the council of the Hast Lothian
Naturalists’ Club resolved on having a course of lectures or popular
readings on some subject connected with forestry, which might enable
the members and others better to profit by visits to the projected Exhibi-
tion, and which should be open to the public ata moderate charge, The
conducting of these was devolved upon me, who happened to be vice-
president of the club. The following treatise was compiled from
information then in my possession, or within my reach, and it constituted
the basis of these lectures.’
4

IV.—Finland: its Forests and Forest Management.
Price 6s 6d.

In this volume is supplied information in regard to
the lakes and rivers of Finland, known as The Land of a
Thousand Lakes, and as The Last-born Daughter of the
Sea ; in regard to its physical geography, including notices
of the contour of the country, its geological formations
and indications of glacial action, its flora, fauna, and
climate; and in regard to its forest economy, embracing a
discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of
Svedjande, the Sartage of France, and the Koomaree of
India; and details of the development of Modern Forest
Economy in Finland, with notices of its School of Fores-
try, of its forests and forest trees, of the disposal of its
forest products, and of its legislation and literature in
forestry are given.

Extract From PREFACE. —‘I happened to spend the summer of 1879
in St. Petersburg, ministering in the British and American Chapel in
that city, while the pastor sought relaxation for a few months at home.
I was for years the minister of the congregation worshipping there, and
I had subsequently repeatedly spent the summer among them in similar
circumstances. Iwas at the time studying the Forestry of Europe ;
and I availed myself of opportunities afforded by my journey thither
through Norway, Sweden, and Finland, by my stay in Russia, and by
my return through Germany and France, to collect information bearin
upon the enquiries in which I was engaged. On my return to Scotland
I contributed to the Journal of Forestry a series of papers which were
afterwards reprinted under the title Glances at the Forests of Northern
Hurope. In the preface to this pamphlet I stated that in Denmark
may be studied the remains of forests in pre-historic times; in Norway,
luxuriant forests managed by each proprietor as seemeth good in his own
eyes; in Sweden, sustained systematic endeavours to regulate the
management of forests in accordance with the latest deliverances of
modern science; in Finland, Sartage disappearing before the most
advanced forest economy of the day; and in Russia, Jardinage in the
north, merging into more scientific management in Central Russia, and
Réboisement in the south. This volume is a study of information which
I then collected, together with information which I previously possessed,
or uk subsequently obtained, in regard to the Forests and Forestry of
Finland.

Translation of Extracts from Letters from Dr A. BLomevisr, Director
of the Finnish National School of Forestry at Evois :—‘On my return
ffom Salmos three weeks age I had the great pleasure to receive your
volume on the Forests and Forest Management in Finland. I return
5

you grateful thanks for the gift, and no less for publishing a description
of the forestal condition of our country. It is with sentiments of true
gratitude I learn that you had previously taken part in a work so
important to our country as the preparation of a new edition of the New
Testament in Finnish. Your descriptions of our natural scenery are
most excellent and interesting. Personally I feel most interest in your
accounts of Koomaree. I value it much. and not less so your concurrent
final conclusion in regard to the effects of the exercise of it in Finland.’

Translation of Statement by M. Dz La Gryz, in the Revue des
Eauzx et Férets of January 1884 :—‘In an address delivered some weeks
since at a batquet of exhibitors in the French section at Amsterdam,
M. Herisson, Minister of Commerce, expressed an intention to publish
a series of small books designed to make known to French merchants
foreign lands in a commercial point of view. If the Minister of Commerce
wishes to show to our merchants the resources possessed by Finland, he
need not go far to seek information which may be useful to them, they
will be found in a small volume which has just been published by Mr
John Croumbie Brown.

‘ Mr Brown is one of those English ministers, who, travelling over the
world in all directions [some at their own cost], seeking to spread the
Word of the Lord in the form of Bibles translated into all languages,
know how to utilise the leisure left to them at times while prosecuting
this mission. Some occupy themselves with physical science, others with
archeology, some with philology, many with commerce ; Mr Brown has
made a special study of sylviculture. He has already published on this
subject many works, from amongst which we may cite these : Hydrology
of South Africa ; The Forests of England ; The Schools of Forestry in
Europe ; Réboisement in France; Pine Plantations on Sand Wastes in
france,

‘His last book on Finland is the fruit of many journeys made in that
country, which he visited for the first time in 1833, but whither he has
returned frequently since that time. Mr Brown gives narratives of his
voyages on the lakes which abound in Finland, and his excursions in the
immense forests, the exploitation of which constitutes the principal
industry of the country. The School of Forestry at Evois has furnished
to him much precise information in regard to the organisation of the
service, and the legislation and the statistics of forests, which, added
to what he had procured by his own observation, has enabled him to
make a very complete study of this country, poetically designated The
Land of a Thousand Lakes, and which might also justly be called The
Kingdom of the Forest, for there this reigns sovereign.’

 

V.—Forest Lands and Forestry of Northern Russia.
Price 6s 6d.
Details are given of a trip from St. Petersburg to
the. forests around Petrozavodsk on Lake Onega, in
the government of Olonetz; a description of the forests
6

on that government by Mr Judrae, a forest official of
high position, and of the forests of Archangel by Mr
Hepworth Dixon, of Lapland, of the land of the Samoides
and of Nova Zembla; of the exploitation of the forests
by Jardinage, and of the evils of such exploitation; and
of the export timber trade, and disposal of forest products.
In connection with discussions of the physical geography
of the region information is supplied in regard to the
contour and general appearance of the country ; its flora,
its forests, and the palaeontological botany of the regions
beyond, as viewed by Professor Heer and Count Saporta ;
its fauna, with notices of game, and with copious lists of
coleoptera and lepidoptera, by Forst-Meister Gunther, of
Petrozavodsk.

Extract rrom Prerace.—‘In the spring of 1877 I published a
brochure entitled The Schools of Forestry in Europe: a Flea for the Crea-
tion of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretum in Edin-
burgh, in which with details of the arrangements made for instruction in
Forest Science in Schools of Forestry in Prussia, Saxony, Hanover,
Hesse, Darmstadt, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, Austria, Poland, Russia,
Finland, Sweden, France, Italy, and in Spain, and details of arrange-
ments existing in Edinburgh for instruction in most of the subjects in-
cluded amongst preliminary studies, I submitted for consideration the
opinion, ‘‘ that with the acquisition of this Arboretum, and with the ex-
isting arrangements for study in the University of Edinburgh, ard in
the Watt Institution and School of Arts, there are required only facil:-
ties for the study of what is known on the Continent as Forest Science
to enable these Institutions conjointly, or any one of them, with the
help of the other, to take a place amongst the most completely equipped
Schools of Forestry in Europe, and to undertake the training of foresters
for the discharge of such duties as are now required of them in India, in
our Colonies, and at home.”

‘This year has seen world-wide arrangements for an International
Exhibition of forest products and other objects of interest connected
with forestry in Edinburgh, ‘‘In the interests of forestry, and to pro-
mote a movement for the establishment of a School of Forestry in Scot-
land, as well as with a view of furthering and stimulating a greater im-
provement in the scientific management of woods in Scotland and the
sister countries which has manifested itself during recent years.”

‘The following is one of a series of volumes published with a view to
introduce into English forestal literature detailed information on some
of the points on which information is supplied to students at Schools of
Forestry on the Continent ; and to make better known the breadth of
study’ which is embraced in what is known there as Forstwissenscaft, or
Forest Science,’
7

VI.—French Forest Ordinance of 1669 ; with Historical
Sketch of Previous Treatment of Forests in France.
Price 4s.

The early history of forests in France is given, with de-
tails of devastatioiis of these going on in the first half of
the seventeenth century ; with a translation of the Ordi-
nance of 1669, which is the basis of modern forest econo-
my; and notices of forest exploitation in Jardinage, in La
Methode & Tire et Aire, and in La Methode des Comparti-
ments,

Extract From Prerace.—‘ “The Celebrated Forest Ordinance of
1669 :” Such is the character and designation generally given at the
present day to the Ordinance in question. It is known, by reputation
at least, in every country on the Continent of Europe ; but, so far as is
known to me, it hasnever before been published in English dress. It
may possibly be considered antiquated ; but, on its first promulgation, it
was welcomed, far beyond the bounds of France, as bringing life to the
dead ; and I know of no modern system of Forest Exploitation, based on
modern Forest Science, in which I cannot trace its influence. In the
most advanced of these—that for which we are indebted to Hartig and
Cotta of Saxony—I see a development of it like to the development of
the butterfly from what may be seen in the structure of the chrysalis;
and thus am I encouraged to hope that it may prove suggestive of bene-
ficial arrangements, even where it does not detail what it may be deemed
desirable to adopt.

‘In my translation I have followed an edition issued with Royal ap-
proval in 1753, with one verbal alteration to bring it into accordance
with certain older approved editions, and with another verbal alteration
to bring it into accordance with editions issued in 1699, 1723, 1734, an

1747. :

Translation of notice by M. Dz La Gaye for July 1883 in the Revue
des Eaux et Férets: ‘England, which with her immense possessions in
India, in Canada, and in the Cape of Good Hope, is beyond all question
a State rich in forests, has never up to the present time given to this

ortion of her domains more than a very moderate share of her attention ;
but for some years past public opinion is becoming alarmed, in view of
the immense devastations which have been committed in them, and the .
forest question coming forward spontaneously has become the subject of
numerous publications : amongst which, after the excellent monthly
collection, the Journal of Forestry and Hstate Management, comes the
Translation of the Ordinance of 1669, which has just been published by
Mr John Croumbie Brown. This translation of « monument of juris-
prudence, well known in France, but which has never before been repro-
duced in English, has furnished to Mr Brown an opportunity of giving a
historical sketch of French Forest Legislation, and an exposition of the
8

different methods of exploitation followed in our country. Drawn from
the best sources, and commented on with talent, these documents form
an elegant volume, which the author has made the more complete by
binding with it a summary of the treatise he has published on the
Forests of England.’

VII. —Pine Plantations ou Sand Wastes in France.
Price 7s.

In this are detailed the appearances presented by the
Landes of the Gironde before and after culture, and the
Landes of La Sologne; the legislation and literature of
France in regard to the planting of the Landes with trees ;
the characteristics of the sand wastes; the natural his-
tory, culture, and exploitation of the maritime pine, and
of the Scots fir; and the diseases and injurious influences
to which the maritime pine is subject.

EXTRACTS FROM PREFACE.—‘ The preparation of this volume for the
‘press was undertaken in consequence of a statement in the Standard and
Mail, a Capetown paper, of the 22d July 1876, to the effect that in the
estimates submitted to Parliament £1000 had been put down for the
-Cape Flats, it was supposed with a view to its being employed in car-
rying out planting operations as a means of reclaiming the sandy tracts
beyond Salt River.

‘This volume was originally compiled in view of what seemed to be
required at the Cape of Good Hope. It has been revised and printed
now, as a contribution towards a renewed enterprise to arrest and
utilise eand-wastes which stretch from Table Mountain to the Hottentot

Holland Mountains; and additional information is forthcoming if it
should be desired.’

VIII.—Reboisement in France ; or, Records of the Re-
planting of the Alps, the Cevennes, and the
Pyrenees, with Trees, Herbage, and Bush,
with a view to arresting and preventing the de-
structive consequences of torrents. Price 12s.

In this are given a résume of Surell’s study of Alpine
torrents, of the literature of France relative to Alpine tor-
rents, and of remedial measures which have been proposed
for adoption to prevent the disastrous consequences fol-
9

lowing from them—translations of documents and enact-
ments, showing what legislative and executive measures
have been taken by the Government of France in connec-
tion with réboisement as a remedial application against
destructive torrents—and details in regard to the past,
present, and prospective aspects of the work.

Extract rrom Prerace.—‘ In a treatise on the Hydrology of South
Africa I have given details of destructive effects of torrential floods at
the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and referred to the measures adopted
in France to prevent the occurrence of similar disastrous floods there.
The attention of the Legislative Assembly at the Cape of Good Hope
was, last year, called by one of the members of the Assembly to the
importance of planting trees on unproductive Crown lands. On learn-
ing that this had been done I addressed to the editor of the Cape Argus
a communication, of which the following is a copy :—

‘**T have before me details of destructive effects of torrents which have
occurred since I left the Colony in the beginning of 1867. Towards the
close of that year there occurred one, the damage occasioned by which
to roads and to house property at Port Elizabeth alone was estimated at
from £25,000 to £30,000, Within a year thereafter a similar destructive
torrent occurred at Natal, in regard to which it was stated that the
damage done to public works alone was estimated at £50,000, while the
loss to private persons was estimated variously from £50,000 to £100,000.
In the following year, 1869, a torrent in the Western Province occa-
sioned the fall of a railway bridge, which issued in loss of life and loss
of property, and personal injuries, for one case alone of which the rail-
Way proprietors were prosecuted for damages amounting to £5000. In
Beaufort West a deluge of rain washed down the dam, and the next
year the town was flooded by the waters of the Gamko; and the next
year, 1871, Victoria West was visited with a similar disaster. Such are
the sums and the damages with which we have to deal in connection
with this question, as it affects the case; and these are only the most
remarkable torrents of the several years referred to. I have spoken of
millions of francs being spent on réboisement in France, and some may
be ready to ery out, ‘ Nothing like such an expenditure can be under-
taken at the Cape!’ Perhaps not; but the losses occasioned by the
torrents seem to amount.at present to about a million of francs in the
year. This falls in a great measure on individuals, that would fall on
the community ; and the community in return would benefit by water
retained to fertilize the earth, instead of being lost in the sea, and by
firewood and timber being grown where now there is none. These are
facts well deserving of consideration in the discussion of the expediency
of planting Crown lands with trees.”

‘Towards the close of last year, 1874, still more disastrous effects
were produced by torrential floods, According to the report given by
one of the Colonial newspapers, the damages done could not be esti-
mated at much less than £300,000, According to the report given by
10

another, the damage done to public works alone was estimated at
£350,000,—eight millions, seven hundred and fifty thousand francs. And
my attention was called anew to the subject.

‘On addressing myself to M. Faré, Director-General of the Administra-
tion of Forests in France, there was afforded to me every facility I could
desire for extending and verifying the information I had previously col-
lected in regard to the works of réboisement to which I have referred.
Copies of additional documents were supplied to me, with copies of
works sanctioned by the Administration, and arrangements were made
for my visiting and inspecting, with every assistance required, the works
begun and the works completed ; and thus I have been enabled to sub-
mit a much more complete report than it would otherwise have been in
my power to produce,

‘While the compilation I have prepared owes its publication at this
time to the occurrence of the inundations of last year at the Cape of
Good Hope, the publication has been undertaken in the hope that ia
other countries besides South Africa the information may be turned to
practical account.’

Translation of extract from letter to the author by M. ALEXANDRE
SuRELL, Ingenieur des Ponts et Chausses, chairman of the Compagnie des
Chemins des Fer du Midi et du Canal lateral 4 la Garonne, and author of
Etude sur les Torrents des Hautes- Alps, Ouvrage Couronne par l Academie
des Sciences en 1842 :—‘ You are rendering an eminent service to society
in calling the attention of serious thinkers to the subject of réboisements
and gazonnements. It is a vital question affecting our descendants,
specially in southern climates, there are useful truths which have to be
diffused there, and you have fulfilled this duty amongst your country-
men,

‘In France public opinion, long indifferent, is now sufficiently en-
lightened on the question, and much has been done.

‘I have been able to establish in the course of a recent journey
that, throughout a great part of Switzerland, in Styria, in Carinthia,
and in the Tyrol, the same phenomena which have issued in the desola-
tion of our French Alps are beginning to produce the same effects.
There have been recognised a number of extinct torrents which had
originated in the destruction of the forests. If people go on sleeping,
and the administration or the communes do nothing to arrest the evil,
posterity will have a sad inheritance devolved upon it,

‘You have given, with very great clearness, a résumé of what I have
done in France, be it by my works, or be it by my workings, for the re-
generation of our mountains.’

‘Translation of extract from letter by the late M. Ernest Cézanne, In-
genieur des Ponts ct Chausses, Représentant des Hautes Alpes al Assemblée
Nationale, and author of Une Suite to the work of M. Surell. ‘The
post brought to me yesterday your very interesting volume on Réboise-
ment, Lat once betook myself to the perusal of it; and I am surprised
that a foreigner could digest so completely such a collection of our
French documents drawn from so many diverse sources, The problem
11

of réboisement and the regeneration of the mountains is one of the most in-
teresting which man has to solve, but it requires time and money, and
with the authorities and political assemblies, technical knowledge which
is as yet but very sparingly possessed. It is by books so substantial as
yours, sir, that public opinion can be prepared to face the importance
of this great work.’

IX.—Hydrology of South Africa; or Details of the
Former Hydrographic Condition of Cape of Good
Hope, and of Causes of its Present Aridity, with
Suggestions of Appropriate Remedies for this
Aridity. Price 10s.

In this the desiccation of South Africa, from pre-Adamic
times to the present day, is traced by indications supplied
by geological formations, by the physical geography or the
general contour of the country, and by arborescent pro-
ductions in the interior, with results confirmatory of the
opinion that the appropriate remedies are irrigation,
arboriculture, and an improved forest economy: or the
erection of dams to prevent the escape of a portion of
the rainfall to the sea—the abandonment or restriction of
the burning of the herbage and bush in connection with
pastoral and agricultural operations—the conservation and
extension of existing forests—and the adoption of measures
similar to the réboisement and gazonnement carried out in
France, with a view to prevent the formation of torrents,
and the destruction of property occasioned by them.

M. Jules Clavé, of world-wide reputation as a student
of Forest Science, wrote in the Revue des Deux Mondes of
1st May 1882 :—

[Translated.] ‘Since the first travels of Livingstone, the African
continent, hitherto inacessible, has been attacked on all points at once.
By the north, and by the south, by the east, and by the west, hardy
explorers have penetrated it, traversed it, and have dragged from it
some of its secrets. ‘Travellers have paid tribute and done their work
in opening up a path ; it is now for science and civilisation to do theirs,
in studying the problems which present themselves for investigation ;
and in drawing in the current of general circulations the peoples and
lands, which appear as if destined to stand outside; and in causing to
12

contribute to the increase of social wealth the elements of production
previously unknown.. Thus are we led to receive with interest works
which can throw a new light on the condition of regions which may
have been known for a long time, and which make known the conditions
of their prosperity. It is under this title that the work of the Rev. J. C.
Brown on the Hydrology of South Africa appears deserving of notice ;
but it is so also from other points of view. Mr Brown, after a previous
residence in the colony of the Cape, whither he had been sent in 1844
as a missionary and head of a religious congregation, returned thither
in 1863 as Professor of Botany in the College of South Africa, and he
remained there some years. In both of these positions he had occasion to
travel through the colony in all directions, and had opportunities to col-
lect most valuable information in regard to its physical geography. Mr
Brown on going out to the Cape knew nothing of the works which had
for their object to determine the influence of forests on the climate, on
the quantity of rain, and on the river-courses in Europe ; he had never
heard mention of the work of M. Surell on the torrents of the Alps, or
of that of M. Mathieu on forest meteorology, nor of those of M.
Domontzey, Costa de Bastelica, and so many others on the subject of
réboisement ; and yet in studying by himself, and without bias, the
climatic condition of South Africa, he came to perceive that the dis-
turbances in the regularity of the flow of rivers within the historic
period should be attributed in a large measure to the destruction of
forests ; and he meets in agreement on this point the savants whose
names have been mentioned. We have thought it might not be with-
out interest to readers of the Revue to have in the lines of Mr Brown a
collection of phenomena which,. in their manifestation at any speci-
fied point are not less due to general causes, the effects of which
may be to make themselves felt everywhere where there may be
existent the same conditions than to aught else.’ And there follows a
lengthened article in illustration.

X.—Water Supply of South Africa, and Facilities for
the Storage of it. Price 18s 6d.

In this volume are detailed meteorological observations
on the humidity of the air and the rainfall, on clouds, and
winds, and thunder-storms; sources from which is derived
the supply of moisture which is at present available for
agricultural operations in the Colony of the Cape of Good
Hope and regions beyond, embracing the atmosphere, the
rainfall, rivers, fountains, subterranean streams and reser-
yoirs, and the sea; and the supply of water and facilities
for the starage of it in each of the divisions of the colony
138

—in Basutoland, in the Orange River Free State, in
Griqualand West, in the Transvaal Territory, in Zululand,
at Natal, and in the Transkei Tervitory.

Extract rrom Prerace.—‘ Appended to the Report of the Colonial
Botanist at the Cape of Good Hope for 1866 was an abstract of a Memoir
prepared on the Hydrology of South Africa, which has since been
embodied in a volume which has been published on that subject, and an
abstract of a Memoir prepared on Irrigation and its application to
agricultural operations in South Africa, which embraced a Report on
the Water Supply of the Colony ; its sources, its quantity, the modes of
irrigation required in different circumstances, the facilities for the adop-
tion of these in different districts, and the difficulties, physical and
other, in the way of works of extensive irrigation being carried out
there, and the means of accomplishing these which are at command.

‘In the following volume is embodied that portion of the Memoir
which related to the water supply, and the existing facilities for the
storage of this, with reports relative to this which were subsequently
received, and similar information in regard to lands beyond the Colony
of the Cape of Good Hope, which it-has been sought to connect with the
Colony by federation, or otherwise ; and the information relative to
irrigation has been transferred to a Report on the Rivers of the Colony,
and the means of controlling floods, of preventing inundations, of
regulating the flow of rivers, and utilising the water by irrigation
otherwise.

‘In the series of volumes to which this belongs its place is immedi-
ately after that on the Hydrology of South Africa, which contains
details of the former hydrographic condition of the Cape of Good Hope,
and of causes of its present aridity, with suggestions of appropriate
remedies for this aridity ; and it has been prepared to show that, not
in a vague and general use of the termg, but in strict accordance with
the statement, the severe, protracted, and extensive droughts, and
destructive floods and inundations, recorded in the former volume, find
their counterpart in constantly alternating droughts and deluges in
every district of the Colony,—and that, in every so-called division of it,
notwithstanding the deluges, there were protracted sufferings from
drought, and, notwithstanding the aridity, there is a supply of water
at command, with existing facilities for the storage of the superabundant
supply which at present proves productive of more evil than good.’

Statement by Reviewer in Huropean Mail :—‘ Dr Brown is well known
at the Cape, for in the exercise of his duties he travelled over the prin-
cipal part of it, and much, if not indeed the substance, of the bulky
volume before us, has been before the Cape public in the form of Reports
to the local Government. As these reports have been commented upon
over and over again by the local press there is little left for us to say
beyond the fact that the author reiterates his opinion that the only
panacea for the drought is to erect dams and other irrigation works for
the storage of water when therains come down. There can be no doubt
14

that this is sage and wholesome advice, and the only question is, who
is to sustain the expense? Not long ago, somewhere about the time
that Dr Brown was prosecuting his labours, it will be remembered that
General Wynard said that ‘‘ Nature had furnished the cups if only
science would take the trouble to make them secure.” It is but to
repeat an oft-told story that with a good supply of water South Africa
would be une of the finest of nature’s gardens, and would be capable of
producing two crops a year, in addition to furnishing fodder for sheep
and cattle. The question of the water supply for irrigation and other
purposes has been staved off year after year, and nothing has been done.
It is not too much to say, however, that the question must make itself
felt, as it is one of the chief factors in the ultimate prosperity of South
Africa. The author is evidently in love with his subject, and has con-
tributed a mass of facts to Hydrology which will be useful to all coun-
tries of an arid character.’

XI.—Forests and Moisture; or Effects of Forests on
Humidity of Climate. Price 10s.

In this are given details of phenomena of vegetation on
which the meteorological effects of forests affecting the
humidity of climate depend—of the effects of forests on
the humidity of the atmosphere, and on the humidity of the
ground, on marshes, on the moisture of a wide expanse of
country, on the local rainfall, and on rivers—and of the
correspondence between the distribution of the rainfall and
of forests—the measure of correspondence between the
distribution of the rainfall and that of forests—the distri-
bution of the rainfall dependent on geographical position,
or determined by the contour of a country—the distribution
of forests affected by the distribution of the rainfall—and
the local effects of forests on the distribution of the rain-
fall within the forest district.

Extracts rRoM Prerace.—‘ This volume is one of a series. In the
first of the series—a volume entitled—published last year, Hydrology
of South Africa ; or, Details of the Former Hydrographic Condition of
the Cape of Good Hope and of Causes of its recent Aridity, with Sugges-
tions of appropriate Remedies for this Aridity,

‘This volume, on the effects of forests on the humidity of the atmos-
phere and the ground, follows supplying illustrations of the reasonable-
ness of the suggestion made in regard to the conservation and extension

of forests as a subordinate means of arresting and counteracting the
deseccation and aridity of the country.’
15

Exrracts rrom Lerrmrs to the author from the late Hon. George P.
Marsh, Minister of the United tates at Rome, and author of The
Earth as Modified by Human Action :—‘I am extremely obliged to you
for a copy of your Réboisement in France, just received by post. I hope
the work may have a wide circulation. . . . Few things are more
needed in the economy of our time than the judicious administration of
the forest, and your very valuable writings cannot fail to excite a
powerful influence in the right direction. . . .

‘I have received your interesting letter of the 5th inst., with the
valuable MSS. which accompanied it. I will make excerpts from the
latter, and return it to you soon. I hope the very important facts you
mention concerning the effect of plantations on the island of Ascension
will be duly verified.

. . . ‘I put very little faith in old meteorological observations,
and, for that matter, not much in new. So much depends on local
circumstances, on the position of instruments, &c.—on station, in short,
that it is only on the principle of the tendency of some to balance each
other that we can trust to the registers of observers not known to be
trained to scientific accuracy. Even in observatories of repute, meteoro-
logical instruments are seldom properly hung and guarded from dis-
turbing causes. Beyond all, the observations on the absorption of heat
and vapour at small distances from the ground show that thermometers
are almost always hung too high to be of any value as indicating the
temperature of the stratum of the atmosphere in which men live and
plants grow, and in most tables, particularly old ones, we have no
information as to whether the thermometer was hung five feet or fifty
feet from the ground, or whether it was in any way protected from heat
radiated from near ebjects.’

Extract Lerrer from the late Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian
Institution, Washington :—‘ The subject of Forest Culture and its in-
fluence on rainfall is, just at this time, attracting much attention in the
United States. At the last meeting of the American Association for the
advancement of science a committee was appointed to memorialise Con-
gress with reference to it. Several of the Western States Governments
have enacted laws and offered premiums in regard toit. The United
States Agricultural Department has collected statistics bearing on the
question, and we have referred your letter to that establishment.

‘The only contribution that the Smithsonian Institution has made to
the subject is that of a series of rain-fall tables, comprising all the obser-
vations that have been made in regard to the rainfall in the United
States since the settlement of the country ; a copy of this we have sent
to your address. ‘

“Tt may be proper to state that we have commenced a new epoch,
and have, since the publication of the tables in question, distributed
several hundred rain gauges in addition to those previously used, and to
those which have been provided by the Government in connection with
the signal service.’

These notices and remarks are cited as indicative of the importance
which is being attached to the subject discussed.
16

Exrract From Lerrer to the author from Lieut.-Col. J. Campbell
Walker, Conservator of Forests, Madras, then Conservator-in-Chief of
Forests, New Zealand; author of Report on State Forests and Forest
Management in Germany and Austria :—‘I am in receipt of yours,
along with the notices of your works on Forestry, by book post.
I think very highly of the scope of the works, and feel sure that they
and similar works will supply « want much felt by the Indian forest
officers.

‘It contains many important data which I should have vainly sought
elsewhere, and it will be regarded by all competent judges as a real
substantial contribution to a knowledge of the existing surface, and the
changes which, from known or unknown causes, that surface is fast
undergoing.’

Copies of any of these Works will be sent post-paid to
any address within direct Postal communication with
Britain, on receipt by Dr Joun C. Brown, Haddington,
of a Post-Office Order for the price.
®

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

OF

MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

BY

x
JOHN CROUMBIE BROWN, ULL.D.,

Formerly Lecturer on Botany in University and King’s College, Aberdeen ;
subsequently Colonial Botanist at Cape of Good Hope, and Professor
of Botany in the South African College, Capetown ; Fellow of the
Linnean Society ; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society ; and
Honorary Vice-President of the African Institute of Paris,

EDINBURGH: .__,,
OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO,
Anp WILLIAM RIDER & SON.
MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS,

1884.

ke
CONTENTS.

OVERTURE, . : i ; ; ‘ F . 1-4
PART I,—THE EXTENSIVE DESTRUCTION OF FoRESTS.

CHAPTER I.—Preliminary Statement, . r . 5-13

Original production of Forests (p. 5) ; Consequences of the
Destruction of Forests (p. 10).

CHAPTER I],—Ancient Forests of Hurope, ., . 14-29

Ancient Forest-Covering. of Europe (p. 14); Existing
Remains of Ancient Forests: Greece (p. 16), Turkey
(p. 17), Russia (p. 17), Siberia (p. 20), Poland (p. 21),
Hungary and Austria (p. 22), Scandinavia (p. 23),
Italy (p. 25), Spain (p. 26), Britain (p, 27).

CHAPTER II].—The Disappearance of Forests in
Europe, ‘ ; . : . . . 30-37

Natural Decay and Reproduction (p. 30); Progressive
Destruction by Man beyond Restoration by Natural
Reproduction.(p. 33), and the Result (p. 37).-

CHAPTER LV.—Luils which have Followed the Haten-
sive Destruction of Forests in EHurope, ‘ 38-101

Section A.—Scarecity of Timber and Firewood, . 38-39

SEctTIon B.—Drought, : e). 4e ; . 40-56

General Statement (p. 40); Illustrations supplied from
Algeria (p. 42); Statements by Schleiden (p. 48), and
by Fries (p. 49); Illustrations supplied from South
Africa (p, 51).
x CONTENTS.

PAGE
SEcTION O,—Floods, Inundations, and Torrents, . 56-84

France (p. 57), Spain (p. 58), Hungary (p. 64), Cape of
Good Hope (p. 65); Origin of Floods and Characteris-
tics of Inundations (p. 66); Preventive Operation of
Forests when occasioned by Rainfall (p. 67), or by the
sudden Melting of Snow (p. 73), with Illustrations
supplied from the Department of Vancluse, in France
(p. 75); Testimony by M. Jules Clavé (p. 79);
Remarks on the Inundation of Toulouse, by the
Journal des Debdis (p. 81); and Discussion of Prin-
ciples involved (p. 82).

SEcTION D.—TZorrents, Avalanches, and Landslips, 84-95

Statements in regard to Torrents (p. 84); in regard to
Avalanches (p. 87); and in regard to Landslips (p, 90).

SECTION E.—Sand-Drifts, . F i 95-101

Remains of former Forests in Sand Plains (p. 95) ; Illustra-
tion of Effects of Destruction of Trees on Sand Plains
supplied by Drift-Sands in the vicinity of Danzig (p.
96); Remarks by Surell (p. 100).

 

PART I1L—ELeMents oF MOopERN Forest

Economy, . . . . . . 102-104
CuaptTer I.— Forest Conservation, 4 ‘i 105-106
CuHapTer I].—Reboisement, . . : ; 106-130

Section A.—General Advantages Resulting fror
Reboisement Experienced in Algeria, . 2 108-110

SEcTION B.—Lffects of Reboisement in Arresting and
Preventing the Occurrence of Torrents and Inun-
dations, ; ‘ ' ‘ ; 2 110-120

Statements by M, Gentil (p. 113) ; by M. Delafont (p, 116) ;
by M. Surell (p. 116) ; by Vicomte de Bonald (p. 117);

by dinburgh Review (p. 117); and by Budget
Committee of National Assembly of France (p. 118)
CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

SECTION C.—Zfects of Reboisement in Fiaing down
and Utilising Drift-Sand, : : : 120-130

Work of Herr Soeren-Bioern in the vicinity of Danzig
(p. 121) ; Continuation of the Work by Herr Krause

{p- 125); Continuation of the Work under Herr
agen (p. 129) ; Remains of Ancient Forests (p. 130.)

~ Cuaprer: II].— £zploitation, ‘ ? : . i

Section A.—Sartage, , 2 ‘ : 131-137

Sartage in France (p. 132); in North of Europe, &c.
(p. 133); in India (p. 134); Modification of it in
erica (p. 138.)

Section B,—Jardinage, . : : : 137-138

SEcTIon C.—La Methode & tire et aire, : 138-153

Origin of usage (p. 138); Excerpts from French Forest
Ordinance of 1669 (p. 141) ; Import of the designation
(p. 147) ; Advantages and Disadvantages of the Method
(p. 149.)

Section D.—Furetage and Tallis sous Futate, 158-165
Furetage (p. 153); Modification proposed by M. Guinier
(p. 154); Taillis sous Futaiae (p. 169.)

Section E.—La Methode des Compartiments, 168-186

Defects of La Methode a Tire et Aire (p. 165); Improve-
ments by Hartig and Cotta (p. 167) ; Details of the
iapeoven Method of Exploitation (p. 175).

CHAPTER IV.—Sylviculture, j ‘ . 187-192

Explanation of the term (p. 187); Illustration supplied by
the Culture of the Austrian Pine (p, 189.)

CHAPTER V.—Study of Pathology, : . 198-202

Diseases of Trees (p. 193); Notice of Fungi infesting the
Austrian Pine (p. 194.)
xii CONTENTS.

PAGE
PART TIL.—Forest ADMINISTRATION. ‘ 203-228

Disadvantages of employing unqualified Managers of
Forests (p. 204); Employment of such in Frapce
200 years ago (p. 204); in England within the last
100 years (p. 205) ; in the Colony of the Cape of Good
Hope within the last 50 years (p. 205) ; Organisation
of Schools of Forestry on the Continent of Europe
(p. 206); Tllustration supplied by the School of
Forestry in the Escurial, Spain (p. 208); Salary and
Social Position of Educated Forest Officials (p. 214) ;
Pre-requisites for Employment in the Forest Service
of India (p. 215); Resultant Pecuniary Profits (p.
223); Conclusion (p. 225).°

 

oO

AUTHORS, &c., CrTED. +

Apam, p. 15; Bacneris, p. 153-188; Biangul, p. 79; BLORE, p.
55 ; VicomTE DE Bonazp, p. 117; Bousstncatt, p. 70; BRANDIS, p.
215; Breton, 89; BRoILLaRD, p. 44; BucHanan, p. 28; CALMELS,
p. 45; Cavvierit, p. 80; Crzanne, p. 71-90; CHapman, p. 52;
CHALMERS, p. 27; CHESNEL, p. 44; CLAVE, p. 79-169; CLEGHORN, p.
135, 215; Costa DE Basteuica, p. 111; Cours Hlementaire de Culture
des Bois, p. 189; Deuerain, p. 45-46; De La Font, p. 116; Dupin,
p. 47; Eiszz Recivs, p. 44; Forests and Forestry of Finland, p. 7,
15, 17, 157, 213; FLiepNer, p.58; Forest DEPARTMENT oF INDIA, p.
215; The Forests of England, p. 27, 28, 205; Forests and Moistures, p.
41-75 ; French Forest Ordinance of 1669, p. 39, 138, 204; Fuss, p. 49;
GenTIL, 113; Gorse, p. 67, 87,90; Dre La Gryrz, p. 161; GuTNIER,
p. 154; Haazn, p. 120; Hatt (p. 65); Harrie and Corra, p. 167-191 ;
HEINDREICH, p. 34; HERIcART DE THuRy, p. 86; Humpott, 42;
Hydrology of South Africa, p. 7, 40, 54, 138; Journal of Forestry, p.
213; Journal des Debits, 81; Jutes Marsrre, p. 54; Lasuissiere,
p. 75; London Medical Journal, p. 33 ; LoRENz and Parabg, p. 1873
Maceregor, p. 136; Mang, pp. 43, 46, 47, 48, 80; Marny, p. 163
Marsu, pp. 7, 9, 27,34; Maury, p. 44; Morrat, p. 52; Ordinance of
1669, p. 141; ParabE, pp. 134, 137, 140, 165, 168; Pine Plantations on
Sand Wastes in France, pp. 101, 189, 192; Rapports Annuels de Meteor-
ologie Forestieres, p. 47 ; Raucu, pp. 42, 44, 47; Reboisement in France,
pp. 57, 66, 85, 87, 112, 188; REyNaRD, p. 108; Forests of Northern
Russia, p. 138; ScHLEIDEN, p. 48; Schools of Forestry in Europe, p.
213; V. ScHuBERt, p. 183; SeRVIAN PROVERB, p. 42; SOKANNOFF, p.
148; SuREIL, pp. 42, 46, 86, 91, 100, 116; Baron F. V. TaHuemEn,
p. 194; Tuouarp, p. 6; Times, p. 206; Viotter Le Duo, pp. 43-
89; CAMPBELL- WALKER, pp. -169, 180, 224; Water Supply of South
Africa, p. 41; WESSELY, pp. 96, 120.

 
PREFACE.

In the Spring of 1877, while measures were being taken
for the formation of an Arboretum in Edinburgh, knowing
something of the constitution and of the work of Schools
of Forestry on the Continent, of what was required in
order to the economic and efficient conservation, exploita-
tion, and extension of existing forests in our Colonies, and
of the studies and mode of study pursued in the Univer-
sity, and in the Watt Institute in that city, I issued a
pamphlet entitled The Schools of Forestry in Hurope : a Plea
Jor the Creation of a School of Forestry in connection with the
Arboretum at Edinburgh, which was addressed ‘To the Right
Honourable the Lord Provost, the Magistrates, and the
Town Councillors of Edinburgh ; to the Office-Bearers of
the Scottish Arboricultural Society ; to the promoters of
the purchase of ground at Inverleith to be transferred to
Government for the formation of an Arboretum ; and all
others whom it may concern.’

In this I submitted for consideration the opinion ‘that
with the acquisition of the Arboretum, and with the
existing arrangements for study in the University of
Edinburgh, and in the Watt Institute and School of Arts,
there are required only facilities for the study of what is
known on the Continent as Forest Science, to enable
these Institutions conjointly, or any one of them with the
vi PREFACE,

help of the others, to take a place amongst the most
completely equipped Schools of Forestry in Europe, and
to undertake the training of foresters for the discharge
of such’ duties as are now required of them in India, in our
Colonies, and at home.’ And I gave detailed information
how this might be accomplished, specifying existing classes
in which what was necessary was now being taught.

The estate at Inverleith has since been acquired at an
expenditure, it is said, of £20,000—it has been transferred
to the Government—and it is being converted into an
Arboretum, such as was contemplated. And at a meeting
held on the 28th of March last year, presided over by the
Marquis of Lothian, while the assemblage was representa-
tive of all interests—scientific, practical, and professional—
it was resolved :—‘ That it is expedient in the interests of
forestry, and to promote a movement for the establishment
of a National School of Forestry in Scotland, as well as
with the view of furthering and stimulating a greater
improvement in the scientific management of woods in
Scotland and the sister countries which has manifested
itself during recent years, that there should be held in
Edinburgh, during 1884, and at such season of the year as
may be arranged, an International Exhibition of forest
products and other objects of interest connected with
forestry.’ It was then moved, seconded, and agreed :—
‘That this meeting pledges itself to give its hearty
co-operation and patronage to the promotion of an Inter-
national Forestry Exhibition in Edinburgh in 1884; and
those present resolve to give their best efforts and endea-
vours to render the Exhibition a success, and of such
importance and general interest as to make it worthy of
the name of International.’
PREFACE, vii

It is in accordance with this resolution, and in discharge
of obligations which it imposed, that the following volume
has been prepared.

There is, I find, a general impression that the work of
4 forester is very simple work: he has just to plant seed-
lings or saplings supplied to him by the nurseryman; to
thin out what can be best spared, when, as they grow,
they begin to crowd one another; to prune off, if necessary,
useless branches; to. keep up a good undergrowth to afford
shelter to game; and to superintend the felling of trees
when they have reached their maturity. And it is
thought there is no great need for any School of Forestry
or for any training for such work other than may be
acquired by acting for some time as a forester’s assistant.
This, it is thought, may supply in time to come, as it has
often done in time past, all that is required to fit the
forester to do all that.—And in regard to the forthcoming
exhibition again and again I have been told, ‘I wonder
what you will get to exhibit.’ Ihave no means of knowing
to what extent these views may be shared by my readers.
But I hope they know better. As botany, contrary to the
supposition of many that it only concerns itself with the
long unpronounceable Latin and Greek names given to
plants, relates to every thing pertaining to vegetation, so forestry
or forest science, Forstwissenschaft, contrary to the opinion
that it is limited in its sphere as the opinions I have
referred to imply, relates to everything connected with
forests or pertaining thereto—EVERYTHING,.

It does not come within the scope of my present under-
taking to attempt to demonstate this; but having affirmed
it I publish the following Introduction to the Study of
viii PREFACE.

Forestry, hoping by the perusal of it, some may be
prepared with greater advantage to visit the Exhibition
which in a few months will be opened in the capital.

The following treatises, have also been prepared and
published with a view of introducing British students of
Forest Science to views entertained by many on the
Continent, and the appliance of them to practical ques-
tions which are cropping up amongst us :—

The Schools of Forestry in Europe: a Plea for the
Creation of a School of Forestry in Edinburgh; The
Forests of England ; and the Management of them in
Bygone Times; French Forest Ordinance of 1669; with
Historical Sketch of previous Treatment of Forests in
France; Forests and Forestry of Finland, embodying a
discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of Sved-
jande, the Sartage of France, the Koomaree of India;
Forests and Forestry of Northern Russia, embodying details.
of the Exploitation of Forests by Jardinage, and its effects ;
Pine Plantations on Sand Wastes in France ; Reboisement
in France, or, Records of the Replanting of. the Alps, the
Cevennes, and the Pyrenees with Trees, Herbage, and
Bush, with a view to arresting and preventing the destruc-
tive consequences of torrents; Forests and Moisture, or
effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate; Hydrology of
South Africa, or, Details of the former Hydrographic Con-
dition of the Cape of Good Hope, and of Causes of its
present Aridity, with Suggestions of appropriate Remedies
for this Aridity; Water Supply of South Africa, and
Facilities for the Storage of it.

JOHN C. BROWN.
Happineton, ls: May, 1884.
INTRODUCTION

TO THE

STUDY OF MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

 

0:

 

‘

OVERTURE.

ACCORDING to old English usage, and in legal phraseology
still, the term forest is applicable primarily not to a mass
of trees, but to‘a place of resort and shelter. for animals
which may be pursued and slaughtered for amusement
And it was only in a secondary sense that the term was
first applied to the chief characteristic of such a place of
resort and shelter—the trees. To many it may appear
incongruous to speak of a place as a forest irrespective of
trees; but the usage is common in speaking of the deer
forests of Scotland; and the usage is justifiable, though it
may remind one of the ironical announcement of ‘ the play
of Hamlet, with the part of Hamlet left out. A like change
to that which. has taken place in the course of time in the
use of the English term seems to have occurred in the
use made of the corresponding terms in French and in
German. ;

Tn the conservation, culture, and exploitation, or profit-
able disposal of forest products, considerable differences of
practice exist. In Britain we hear much of gamekeepers ;
on the Continent of Europe we hear much of forest-
warders; here the game, there the wood, is the principal
object of conservation. In Britain we hear much of
arboriculture; on the Continent we hear much of sylvi-
culture ; the former refers to woods and plantations, the
other term speaks of woods and forests; in the one case

B
% MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the unit is the tree, and the wood is considered as the
collection of trees ; in the other the wood is the unit, and
the trees are considered only as its constituent parts. In
the former attention is given primarily to the sowing and
planting, and pruning it may be, and general culture of
the tree; nowhere, perhaps, has this arboriculture
been carried nearer to perfection than it has been in
Britain ; and the effects produced by the resulting woods
are wonderful. In the latter, attention is given primarily
to the wood or forest as a whole, capable of yielding pro-
ducts which can be profitably utilised; and the result
generally is to produce a much greater proportion of fine
trees than does even the arboriculture which has been
referred to. And not less different is the exploitation of
woods in Britain and on the Continent. In Britain the
pecuniary returns obtained from woods is considered a
secondary matter in comparison with the amenity and
shelter which they afford; but on the Continent the
material or pecuniary product, or other ecomonic good, is
made the object of primary importance,

The arboriculture of Britain may seem to leave little to
be desired ; but nowhere, perhaps, are forests treated with
greater recklessness than they have been in some of our
colonies and dependencies. In India, however, and some
of our colonies, an endeavour is now being made to arrest
the destructive practices which have prevailed, and to
introduce a system of treatment of forests more in accord-
ance with the advanced forest science of the day.

In the United States of America and in Canada there
have been effected extensive clearings of forest lands
resulting in injurious effects upon the climate, and in a
greatly diminished supply of timber, with no prospect of
this being compensated by the subsequent growth of trees
in the localities. In some of our colonies extensive forests
have been treated as are beds of onions, leeks, cabbages,
and turnips, in the kitchen garden. Trees deemed suitable
OVERTURE. 3

for some purpose desired have been felled, others around
them have been left standing, or have been cut down to
allow of the felled timber being brought out; and the
results have been scarcely less destructive than the forest
clearings in the Western World. These results may be
seen in what were once forest-lands in the colony of the
Cape of Good Hope; and in Europe they may be seen in
Northern Russia.

More than 200 years ago France was in danger of being
entirely devastated by this system of jardinage in the
exploitation of forests, and there was issued an ordinance
requiring that crown forests should be divided into
a specified number of sections, one only of which
should be exploited at a time, so as to allow time for the
trees to be reproduced in each before all the others had
been exploited in succession. The measure was hailed as
one likely, where adopted, to save not only France, but
also other countries in Europe from devastation. But less
than 150 years sufficed to show that this was a vain hope,
for the reproduced forests were not equal to those which
had been felled. And early in the present century there
was devised in Saxony a more complicated, but a much
inore efficient method of exploitation. This is being
adopted everywhere on the Continent of Europe; it has
been introduced with most satisfactory results into the
management of forests in India; and the adoption of it
seems to be the only means available to prevent the ruin
of forests in our colonies, which are now being rapidly
destroyed.

In this also the forest is divided into a number of sec-
tions corresponding to the time required for the reproduc-
tion of the trees. But instead of exploitation being con-
fined to one of these at a time, the supply of wood required
is obtained from the felling of the trees in one or more
lots, and from the first, second, and third thinnings in
others—all being so arranged as to secure simultaneously,
and without prejudice to one or other of them, an improved
condition of the forest, a sustained supply of products, and
4 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

a natural reproduction of the forests by self-sown seed.
All these results are now being obtained by this method
of exploitation. It may seem to be the ne plus ultra of
forest management. But in its application to any forest
the arrangement of details must be based on the knowledge
of a number—of a great number—of facts in regard to
that forest, for the observation of which there is required
an extensive and somewhat prolonged course of education,
instruction, and special study.

To supply facilities for acquiring this education and
instruction, there have been organised Schools of Forestry
in almost every country on the Continent of Europe, most
of which are connected with universities, or similar seats
of learning. To procure this education and instruction,
candidates for the forest'service in India are required to
attend the School of Forestry at Nancy, in France, their
expenses being largely met by the Government. And to
secure like advantages for those who may in the future
undertake the management of forests in our colonies, or at
home, endeavours are being made to secure the organisa-
tion of one or more Schools of Forestry in Britain.

The course of studies through which forest officials on
the Continent pass, is as multifarious as is that required in
this country for admission into the ministry of any of our
churches, or for license to practice medicine or surgery,
and a corresponding social position is awarded to these
officials. Happily tor the prospects of success in the
endeavours which are being made to secure corresponding
educational advantages for foresters in Britain, in some of
our universities—for example, those of Scotland-—and other
educational institutions in the three kingdoms, provisions
already exist for the scientific study of most of the sub-
jects to which attention is given in the Schools of Forestry
on the Continent. But there is still required, in addition
to these, some provision for directing the studies of can-
didates for employment of foresters, and for supplying to
them the practical instruction specially required for the
discharge of the duties to which they aspire.
PRART IL
THE EXTENSIVE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS.

—n 205

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT.

 

SomE 2000. years ago Europe was extensively covered with
forests. It is notso now. We have remains of forest trees
preserved in peat bogs where no forests now exist; and
numerous places bear names given to them in reference
to their proximity to forests when they were so named,
though fers no forests are now to be seen; and we have
extensive remains of some of those ancient forests from
which some idea may be formed of what must have been the
appearance of the country then. But over areas indefinitely
more extensive, fields, and vineyards, and cities, have taken
the place of the forests; architectural monuments now
stand where once stood ‘ the oak, the monarch of the wood ;’
and in vain does the sentimentalist sigh for ‘a lodge in
some vast wilderness, an endless continuity of shade’ where
are now fields, and manufactories, and populous towns
and cities. There all is changed; and science speculates
on what might have been the origin of these forests,
as oo tells only of the disappearance of the forest
wilds.

There exists an opinion in regard to the succession in
which vegetable organisms of ever higher development
appeared on the dry land of the globe, which, though not
propounded with such explicit references to ascertained
facts as might be desired in a scientific theory, has been
6 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

extensively accepted by scientific men, and the truth of
which, so far as is known to me, has never been called in
question. In an address delivered before La Ligue du
Keboisement de L Algerie, by Dr Tholard, the founder of
the league, there was given the following graphic state-
ment of the views in question :— :

‘When the mountains arose in the geological revolutions
which gave to them birth, they must have presented them-
selves in the condition of bare rocks, or banks of solidified
matter, without trace of vegetation. But soon thereafter
moisture in the atmosphere, deposited on their surface,
penetrated into fissures, and there expanding in passing
from the liquid to a solid state with a fall of temperature,
burst asunder the walls of the interstices into which they
had infiltrated, and the work of the disintegration of the
rock began. This physical action of the water was followed
by a chemical action due to carbonic acid, with which it
is always charged, which, combining with the alkaline
elements of tbe rocks, decomposed and dissolved them,
leaving a skeleton of rock more easily penetrable by
water; and, as a consequence, facilitating its further dis-
integration. Thus there was produced, self-formed, a layer
of vegetable soil, or soil capable of sustaining vegetation,
resting almost immediately on the rock as yet unaffected.
Then in many places became developed the first formed
vegetables, the germs of which had been borne thither by
the air; but these, doubtless, were vegetables of simple
organisation, the conditions not being as yet favourable to
the germination and growth of plants of more complex
structure. However low in the scale of vegetable organi-
sation these might be, they continued or carried further
the work of disintegration begun by the atmospheric
moisture; their rootlets penetrated into the fissures of the
rock, and on the death of the plant these became them-
selves decomposed, leaving thus a path open for water,
which by degrees, like an indefatigable miner, continued
its work of crumbling down the rock.

‘By the decomposition of the rock thus effected, the
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. y

vegetable layer slowly increased, continuously enriching
itself with the débris of the plants which it had sustained ;
and the inferior vegetables were gradually replaced by
others of a higher organisation, to give place in. turn to
. vegetables of yet higher rank in the vegetable kingdom,
which do not germinate and develope themselves except
under the most favourable conditions; and, last of all, to
forests. It is thus that through the accumulated work of
centuries the mountain, at first a bald and naked rock,
has been covered, first with a vegetation of cryptogamic
and inferior plants, and been prepared by slow degrees,
little by little, to sustain plants of a higher order in the
vegetable series, and finally with trees, the seeds of which do
not germinate and grow excepting on soil which has been
previously occupied and prepared for them by other vege-
tables, their precursors in the occupation of the soil.’
There are points in this statement to which exception
may be taken, but as a popular account of the course of
events, it may be accepted without cavil. In Finland:
its Forests and Forest Management (p. 27), I have stated
what I have seen of cryptogams, herbs, and ligneous
plants growing upon the same rock; and in Hydrology of
South Africa (pp. 163-164), I have cited the views advanced
in Marsh’s work, entitled The Earth as Modified by Human
Action, in regard to the growth of trees on virgin soil, and
-on soil which has happened to be cleared of vegetation.
Amongst other things noticed it is stated by Marsh :—
‘Whenever a tract of country, once inhabited and culti-
vated by man, is abandoned by him and domestic animals,
and surrendered to the undisturbed influences of spontan-
eous nature, its soil, sooner or later, clothes itself with
herbaceous and arborescent plants, and at no long interval
with a dense forest growth. Indeed, upon surfaces of a
certain stability, and not absolutely precipitous inclination,
the special conditions required for the spontaneous propa-
gation of trees may all be negatively expressed, and reduced
to these three :—exemption from defect or excess of mois-
ture, from perpetual frost, and from the depredationa of
8 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

men and browsing quadrupeds. When these requisites
are secured, the hardest rock is as certain to be overgrown
with wood as the most fertile plain, though in drier
seasons the process is slower in the former than in the
latter case. Lichens and mosses first prepare the way for
a more highly organised vegetation, They retain the
moisture of rains and dews, and bring it to act, in com-
bination with the gases evolved by their organic processes,
in decomposing the surface of the rock they cover; they
arrest and confine the dust which the wind scatters over
them, and their final decay adds new material to the soil
already half-formed beneath and upon them. A very thin
stratum of mould is sufficient for the germination of seeds
of the hardy evergreens and the birches, the roots of which
are often found in immediate contact with the rock, sup-
plying their trees with nourishment from a soil deepened
and enriched from the decomposition of their foliage, or
sending out long rootlets into the surrounding earth in
search of juices to feed them.’

The light which has been thrown by Darwin and others,
who have followed in the track of research opened up by
him, upon the phenomena of a struggle for life and the
survival of the fittest, which is going on extensively in
nature, enables us to account satisfactorily for the great
extension of forests over Europe and over other lands in
which forests predominate. We can see how it may have
been brought about, and not only see how ligneous vege-
tables should have superseded herbs, but understand how
these have superseded lichens, and fruitful fields have super-
seded forests. In the case of the lichen-covered rock each
succeeding plant found a soil and condition more favour-
able for its growth than for the growth of the plant by
which it was preceded ; and this made way for it after it had
served its generation according to the will of God. By a
similar process was the soil subsequently prepared for the
production of trees, which, in common with their imme-
diate predecessors, could not have flourished at an earlier
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT, 9

epoch. But we find that man has made the forest to give
place to the garden and to the fruitful field produced by
man’s device. He has handicapped the cereal and the
fruit-bearing tree ; he has burned or felled the forest; has
sown seeds of the vegetables he desired to grow; has
promoted the growth of them by all means at -his com-
mand, and has succeeded to an extent which he never
could have done had he sown his seed on the bare rock,
or on the sand dune or the heath, or upon the same spot
before it had undergone the preparation through which
it has passed.

In view of this we may be led to conclude that one
important function of forests, in terrestrial economy is to
utilise the area covered by them, and while so utilising it
to prepare it for being utilised still more by man when he
is so advanced in civilisation as to be able otherwise to
make use of it to the benefit of himself, his family, and his
people. “But all is not gain. Evil as well as good has
followed in the wake of the artificial change. Marsh, in
continuation. of the statement I have cited in regard to
the natural production of the forests on what was long
before a bare rock, tells :—

_ ‘With the extirpation of the forest all is changed. At
one season the earth parts with its warmth by radiation
to an open sky; receives, at another, an immoderate heat
from the unobstructed rays of the sun, Hence the climate
becomes excessive, and the soil is alternately parched |
by the fervours of summer, and seared by the rigours of
winter. Bleak winds sweep unresisted over its surface,
drift away the snow that sheltered it from the frost, and
dry up its scanty moisture. The precipitation becomes
as irregular as the temperature; the melting snows and
varied rains, no longer absorbed bya loose and bibular
vegetable mould, rush over the frozen surface, and pour
down the valleys seawards, instead of filling a retentive
bed of absorbent earth, and storing up a supply of moisture
to feed perennial springs. The soil is bared of its covering
of leaves, is broken and loosened by the plough, deprived
10 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

of the fibrous rootlets which held it together, dried and
pulverised by sun and wind, and at last exhausted by new
combinations. The face of the earth is no longer a sponge,
but a dust heap; and the floods which the waters of the
sky pour over it hurry swiftly along its slopes, carrying 1n
suspension vast quantities of earthy particles, which
increase the abrading power and mechanical force of the
current, and, augmented by the sand and gravel of falling
banks, fill the bed of the streams, divert them into new
channels, and obstruct their outlets. The rivulets, wanting
their former regularity of supply, and deprived of the
protecting shade of the woods, are heated, evaporated, and
thus reduced in their former currents,—but swollen to
raging torrents in autumn and in spring.

‘From these causes there is a constant degradation of
uplands, and a consequent elevation of the beds of water-
courses, and of lakes, by the deposition of the mineral
and vegetable matter carried down by the waters. The
channels of great rivers become unnavigable, their estuaries
are choked up, and harbours which once sheltered large
navies are shoaled by dangerous sand-bars.

‘The earth stript of its vegetable glebe grows less and
less productive, and consequently less able to protect
itself by weaving a new, net-work of roots to bind its
particles together, a new carpeting of turf to shield it from
wind and sun and scouring rain. Gradually it becomes
altogether barren. The washing of the soil from the
mountains leave bare ridges of sterile rock, and the rich
organic mould which covered them, now swept down into
the dark low grounds, promotes a luxuriance of aquatic
vegetation that breeds fever and more insidious forms of
mortal disease by its decay, and thus the earth is rendered
no‘onger fit for the habitation of man.’

But this is only one of many evils, At different times
and in different countries there has been raised a cry
that the destruction of forests was being carried on too
rapidly and too extensively; and consequent evils have
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT,

manifested themselves to an extent which has caused
considerable anxiety to men of observation and fore-
thought. The cry has gone up not once only, or from
one land alone, but it has been repeatedly heard ; there is
scarcely a country in Europe in which it has not been
raised at one time or another; and as it has been in
Europe so has it been elsewhere. This has been chiefly
within the last 250 years ; but it has been found that the
evil has been going on since a time long before the com-
mencement of the 2000 years which are characterised to
us by the march of Christianity and modern civilisation
and science; and the effects have been felt both in the
Old World and the New. Now, after successive applica-
tions of topical remedies to the evils as they manifested
themselves in different lands and at different times, modern
science, and more especially that in modern science to
which the designation ‘Forest Science’ has been given,
has been brought to bear, not without success, upon-the
discovery of appropriate permanent scientific remedies for
the evil in the multiform phases in which it presents
itself.

The more pressing forms of the evil were seen in a
reduced supply of wood, such as is yielded by timber
forests ; and of wood, such as is yielded by coppice woods ;
a diminished humidity of soil and climate beyond what is
favourable to agriculture and allied industries pertaining
to rural economy; the occasional occurrence of devasta-
ting torrents and inundations; and the drifting of sterile
sands over lands previously fertile and productive.

In regard to some of these phases of the evil it may be
stated that the remedy which at once suggested itself as
practicable was employed, sometimes with success and
sometimes ineffectually ; and the accumulated observa-
tions of results have not been lost to forest science, or the
practical application of that science in forest economy,

There are numerous well-known facts which show that
the destruction of single trees, of plots of trees, and in:
bb MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

some cases, of extensive stretches of forest, have been
destroyed by means in operation apart from the doings
of man: such as what may be called natural decay ;
‘drought and frost; thunder storms and storms of wind
and hail and snow; epiphetic and parasitic vegetable
growths ; and insects, and birds, and beasts.

But to a far greater extent have forests been destroyed
by reckless fellings in wasteful exploitations; and by these
increased by malversations of officials, and by depredations.
To some extent injuries have been done by flocks and herds
depastured in the woods. And to a great extent have
forests been destroyed by fire applied to the clearing away
of trees, in order that the ground might be obtained for
agriculture, and by fires attributable to accident, but to
accident attributable to the carelessness of man.

The comprehensive view thus taken of the matter con-
firms the conclusion that the appropriate remedial applica-
tions may resolve themselves into endeavours to arrest
the progress of destruction, and endeavours to restore again
what has been taken away ; but it may also have expanded
somewhat the conception formed by us of what is required
in forest conservation and in forest restoration, and this
may call for further differentiations :—

There must be conservation against destruction occurring
irrespective of man’s agency, against destruction through
man’s carelessness, against destruction through man’s dis-
honesty, and with this an improved, more ecomonic, and
less wasteful forest exploitation ; and with this may be
combined or conjoined forest restoration, reboisement as a
preventive of the formation of destructive torrents and
inundations, reboisement as & means of increasing the
humidity of the soil and climate, and increasing the
salubrity of the atmosphere, and the plantiag of trees
as a means of arresting and utilising drifting sand. Most
of what relates to the first of these measures—conservation
against destruction, occurring irrespective of man’s agency,
may with advantage be discussed apart under a discussion
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 18

of the physiology and pathology of trees and arborescent
vegetation ; and most of what relates to the destruction of
forests through the carelessness of man may with advan-
tage be discussed apart under a discussion of the destruc-
tion of forests by fire and of preventive appliances.

Most of the other measures specified will be discussed
in the sequel under the general head of Forest Economy,
inclusive of forest conservation and forest extension and
forest exploitation. But first must be established the
conviction of my readers that some such extensive destruc-
tion of forests as I have indicated has actually occurred,
with the results I have alleged. In view of this the
immediately succeeding chapters will be occupied with
illustrations of what has been alleged, advanced in
illustration of the meaning of what has been said, but
which may be found to be to sore extent of the nature
of proofs—such proofs as hypotheses are subjected to by
experiments designed to test them by demonstrating their
accordance, or their want of accordance, with fact.
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE.

THE indications of its having been the case that, some
two thousand years ago the greater part of Europe was
covered with forests, are numerous and varied, And
from existing remains of these forests some idea may be
formed of what. must then have been the condition of
Europe: in some regions, but not everywhere, one con-
tinuous dense mass of trees; but more frequently exten-
sive stretches of forest, impenetrable to man and beast,
but varied with forest glades, the home of the beasts of
the forest, and inhabited by a savage people : so named, it
may be, from their living in the woods, ‘ wild men of the
woods ’—Silvagers, sawvages—savages; a people cruel in
their revenge when molested by immigrants of greater
civilisation, and so cruel in retaliating on those forcibly
invading their dwelling-place injuries done to them or
imagined, that in the present day the term savage has
become a synonym for cruel; and it is applied to all uncivi-
lised nations, with an embodied idea that such is their
character, though deeds not less to be reprobated than any
of theirs have been perpetrated by individuals and nations,
the product of the civilisation of modern times, with all
the elevating influences which Christianity has yet exer-
cised upon Christendom.

The existing forests of Germany, the Thuringerwald in
Gotha, the Schwartzwald or Black Forest in Baden, the
Oderswald in Hesse, the Spéssart, between Aschaffenburg
and Wurtzburg, and the forests in the Austrian Alps, are
all of them only fragmentary remains of the great Hircynian
Forest, which originally covered the greater part of Con-
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 15

tinental Europe, and was extensively diffused over the
districts now known as Germany, Poland, Hungary, &c.
In Ceesar’s time it extended from the borders of Alsatia
and Switzerland to Transylvania, and was computed to be
sixty days’ journey long and nine broad.

So late as the eleventh century, Adam of Bremen,
writing of Denmark, describes it as horrida sylvis, There
all remains of that ancient forest have disappeared. But
in Norway and Sweden, in Finland and Russia, we have
remains, or representatives, of the northern skirt of the
immense forest which once covered Europe.

In Northern Russia we still have forests through which
the traveller, travelling fast as his tarantass and troika can
carry him, is days and days passing through a continuous
forest of trees, columnar trees, tall and straight, bearing
aloft an umbrageous canopy, under the shade of which is
induced a melanchdly which is oppressive to the soul.
In Finland, with its thousand lakes, all is joy and gladness
as day after day the steamer wends its way, rounding
islands and headlands which are wooded to the water’s
edge, and present on every change a scene of loveliness.*
On the Hartz mountains, again, are found upon a small
scale dense forests like to those of Russia, but with varia-
tions attributable to hills taking the place of plains, and
giving pleasing variety to the scene; and in the Black
Forest we meet again with the counterpart to Finland,
with forest glades for wooded isles, and fertile fields for
fiord-like lakes. These are two types of forests and forest
lands widely dispersed over Europe, separated by wider
areas which, though not devoid of trees, are altogether
devoid of forests. And in these again the former exist-
ence of forests is indicated by the names of many places
having a reference to some adjacent wood, once growing
there, but now no more; while in some cases the remains
of the former forest are found buried in the ground, or

 

* Finland: Its Forests and Forest Management, pp. 9-16.
16 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

preserved in some peat bog which has been created
there.

Of forests in Europe the following account is given in
a valuable work on the subject by M. F. L, Marny :—

‘Greece possessed scarcely any forests at the Roman

epoch, The rapid progress of agriculture had caused the
disappearance, or reduced to simple groves, those forests
of Erymantheus, of Nemeus, with whose name so many
herioe recollections of the Hellenes are connected. These
have in our day almost totally disappeared ; Tempé was
already at the commencement of our era only a shady
valley, instead of the thick forest it had been; lastly,
Dodona, so renowned for her forest of oaks, had seen her
prophetic trees diminishing with the celebrity of her
oracle.
. §From the time of Pindar, the Altis of Olympia was
nothing more than a simple thicket, which bore little
resemblance to that sacred wood consecrated to Jupiter,
like the forest of Dodona, a wood of which it has pre-
served the name. .

‘Crete now no longer presents forests ; scarcely do a few
thickets of olive trees yet adorn her heights, which were
doubtless formerly as shady as those of the Ida of Phrygia
It is the same with the Isles of Nanfi, Antiparos, Ipsara,
Nio, Samos, and Polycandro, The forests of Chios,
formerly so abundant, have abandoned her mountains ;
for they no longer present any thing but an image of
drought and sterility.

‘In the Archipelago forests are no longer met with
except at Imbros, which is still completely covered with
them, and in which abundance of game is concealed under
the tall oaks and firs; at Lemnos, not less wooded; at
Paros, whose mountains are shaded by oaks, pines, and
firs, like those of Mycone, of Thaos. Stampalia, the
ancient Astypelea, if it does not afford lofty trees, has at .
least numerous groups of Kermes oaks, pines, brambles,

and maples.
ANCIENT FOREST'S OF EUROPE. Wy

‘In the Ionian Isles the clearance of wood has proceeded
more rapidly than in the Cyclades; forests, from which
Mount Nero in the island of Cephalonia obtained its name,
disappeared after the establishment of the Venetians.
The northern part of Corfu, at the same time, remains
yet covered with abundant forests of planes, cedars, pines,
firs, beeches, and elms. Leucadia has beautiful oak-woods,
which supply Ithaca with the wood with which it is
actually unprovided. Zante, the ancient Zacynthus, which
Strabo describes as still very woody, is now completely
destitute of forests.

‘Turkey presents in our days a state analogous to that
of ancient Greece; the distribution of forest vegetation
does not appear to have changed much. The oak is the
kind which forms the basis of it ; the predominant species
are quercus robur, quercus cerris, quercus pubescens, quercus
pedunculata, aegilops, cylindrica, and apennina; to these
species are united, in Albania and at Epirus, as well as in
Thessaly, in maritime Macedonia, and upon Tekir-Dagh,
the quercus dlew, quercus aciculus, and quercus coccifera.
Servia and Bosnia possess the most beautiful forests; in
this latter province firs, pines, and birches announce a
more northern vegetation ; these kinds are extended upon
the southern ridge.

‘Russia, which appears to be the last country of Europe
that has awoke tou civilisation, exhibits still that forest
condition which was that of the rest of the world before
man had dispossessed the ground of its thick shades, tu
open a free space for his agricultural labours. In this
vast empire forest lines of a prodigious extent run in
every direction; in the south forests are little met with
except along the rivers, if we except the Black Forest,
an immense wood of oaks, which covers a superficies of
4000 versts.

‘ Yet, inthe Crimea, forest kinds become more abundant.
Forests stretch over the two slopes of the central range;

Cc
1 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

and in the localities where the soil is argilaceous, and
consequently humid, the trees reach a great height. Trees |
are seen, above all, upon the heights which line the coast
from Balaklava as far as Aloupka; from the side of
Alouchta they form vast forests between Babougine- Yaila
and Tehatir-Dagh. The pine of Taurida, which often
attains a height of 50 feet, climbs the most elevated
summits of Baghtcheh-Terai and of Tchoufout-Kaleh,
whose schistous declivities it adorns. The beech, which
grows in the environs of Laspi as much. as a métre in
diameter, composes the bulk of certain woods.

‘In Ukraine, the black earth called by the Russians
stepnoi-ezernozem, which constitutes the soil of a part of
South Russia, gives rise to forests of a special nature, and
of which the principal kinds are oaks, limes, and elms.
These trees grow with uncommon vigour, and are asso-
ciated with an immense number of large pear-trees of a
magnificent aspect. Nevertheless this beautiful forest
mantle is often etiolated under the pernicious. action of
drought, which causes the destruction of thousands of
trees, and particularly hazels, ashes, and elms; only the
species with deep roots escape its devastating influence.

‘The governments the richest in forests are those of
Archangel, Vologda, Viatki, Olonetz, Perm, Kostroma,
Novogorod, Minsk, and Vilna. They are each of them com-
posed of different kinds. In the government of Archangel
pines predominate, and lines of them ascend as far as 67
degrees of latitude., In that. of Kostroma reign vast
forests of limes. In the government of Toula this same
kind constitutes also woods of a peculiar physiognomy, on
account of the special forms which this tree invests itself
with in this country. Its top, instead of the thick rami-
fication which belongs to it in our climates, presents only
a very slight development with insignificant branches.
The oak also of these forests throws out only a small
number of branches, and its leaves, like those of all the
kinds in this government, have not that’ thickness which
one admires in the forests of the East; a phenomenon
which is partly owing to the constant dryness of the air.
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 19

‘These forests of particular kinds, such as pines, birches,
limes, oaks, &c., have each received in the Russian lan-
guage special names which express the nature of their
kinds. The richness of this language to express the idea
of a forest demonstrates the ancient predominance of
forests in this country. Thus they call a forest of firs,
pichtovnikk ; one of birches, bereznikk ; a thick forest upon
a marsh, luiva ; debre is a forest placed in a hollow; a
forest of pines and birches situated in a sandy country is
called borr ; one composed of lofty trees is doubrava, &c.
Formerly, when France presented a forest condition analo-
gous to that of Russia, this language designated also by
special names each kind of forest; people said a chesnaie,
an aulnaie, an urnate, a boulaie, a. possellnidre, expressions
which fell into desuetude as soon as the forests afforded
little else than a mixture of all these kinds. ,

‘ Lithuania forms a vast frontier boundary which separ-
ates Russia from Poland ; it is there that the celebrated
forest of Bialowiéza, which extends all over the district of
Bialistock, and which still serves as a refuge for the last
descendants of the urus of Oriental Europe. This forest is
the only one in this region which is worthy the name of
primeval forest ; for itremained a few years ago abandoned
to the operations of nature, and forest science made no
provision for its management. It is among these aged
woods, which overshadow the source of the Narova, that
the urus wanders in company with the buffalo and the elk.

‘ Amid these primitive scenes of nature there subsists
a distinct population, the Ruskes, almost as savage as the
animals which surround them. In several forests of Lithu-
ania the beech has .entirely disappeared ; pines, birches,
and oaks replace this tree. In Esthonia, in Courland,
limes re-appear, and constitute vast forests,

‘In the vicinity of the Oural, the birches, larches, and
cedars have ceased to form distinct forests ; they are asso-
ciated with other kinds,—with firs, which like marshy
ground; with pines, which grow upon stony places.

‘In going towards Russia from Asia, the forest line is
20 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

arrested only by extreme culd; elsewhere it is propagated
with incredible activity. In the government of Kasan
reign forests of oaks exclusively ; in those of Irkoutsk and
Tobolsk forests of mixed species. On the north the coni-
fere predominate; to the south, the lime, ash, and maple.
The banks of the Irtisch, the Barnaol, and the Alei ave
covered with vast forests of firs.

‘Let us advance towards the Altai chain, let us pene-
trate into the range of the Sailougueme, and we shall see
the forests re-appear more vigorous than those of Siberia.
The slopes of Atbachi are furnished with magnificent
masses of pines and larches, whilst rhododendrons, dwarf
birches, and wild currants, carpet the depths of its valleys.
In the neighbourhood of Lake Kara-Kol, upon the borders
of Samadjir, this latter kind is united to the fir, Between
Ouspenka and the Tome, a forest of black poplars skirts
the hills, which become lower as they approach this river.
From the Alei to the banks of the Irtisch stretch vast
forests which have not yet been explored. If we re-ascend
now those which extend into the government of Yenisei,
between the chains of Tazkil and Sayansk, new kinds
appear in the forest masses, and give them an aspect more
or less monotonous ; these are evergreen birches, whose
foliage is intermingled with that of the white birch and
service-trees, which take rank among the firs.

‘When we leave the banks of the Yenesei, and follow
the route which leads from Minousink to Touba, we find
an uninterrupted succession of woods and forests. The
former are composed of agreeable groups of birches,
poplars, and willows. The forests less smiling were for-
merly overrun by the indigenous tribes and their herds of
reindeer. In the present day it is with incredible diffi-
culty that the traveller can pass through the forest bounds
which divide the country with steppes. Some unfold
uninterrupted lines of conifere, pines, and firs—these
receive in the country the name of black forests ; the
others, called white forests, set up, like so many tall masts,
long files of white birches,
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 21

_ ‘Notwithstanding this vast extent of forests, the epoch
1s not very distant’ in which these forests will have dis-
appeared, and made way for meagre plantations, for clumps
spread here and there upon the cultivated plain. The
Muscovite peasant yields to no other people in his reckless
fury in removing the timber. Cultivated lands daily suc-
ceed the forests. The sectaries who seek in the depth of
the forest a refuge against religious persecution, labour
also on their side in the destruction of the woods, and set
on fire [?] the retreats which at present screen them from
the rigour of the laws.

‘At times it is not the flame kindled by the Russian
labourer, but the fire brought by the carelessness of the
Syrian or Siberian hunter which produces these fatal
causes of destruction, The thunder-bolt [?] has equally
determined those combustions which annihilated thousands
of trees and sables; lastly, the rigour of cold produces also
effects analogous to those of fire. If the frost does not
reduce the trees to ashes it splits them often through the
whole extent of their stem, with a noise that resounds in
the steppes like the firing of a cannon at sea. During the
winter season the forests remain buried under the ice,
which by accumulating overreaches their tops. This
terrible cold tinges the larches with different tints, the
ouly trees which remind the traveller, lost in the toundras,
of the existence of vegetation. Their bark is black or
red according as they are exposed to the north or to the
south, and this circumstance furnishes a sort of natural
compass.

‘When the forests have been ravaged by fire or cut
down by the axe, the kinds which again spring up over the
burned or cleared land present in succession some pheno-
mena of alternations similar to what takes place in
America, It is the birch which comes first, in . small
thickets; then the pines make their appearance. In
Poland we meet with only very few forests capable of
giving an idea of the ancient forest state of the country.
A sample may be seen in the forest of Wodwosco, which
2 ‘MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

lies upon the domain of that name, between those of
Wraniezko and of Lublowicz. Whilst one part, cleared
about forty years ago, affords only a continuation of bushes
‘and thickets, in the midst of which spring up here and
there a few alders, maples, or hollies, in that which. the
hand of man has respected to this day the forest offers
admirably tall trees of oak and beech mingled with
majestic firs. The bushes disappear, then a thick carpet
of moss and heath recover the soil. Beyond, the land loses
that uniformity and becomes more broken; a torrent
dashes with fracas over the débris of rocks. The trees are
crowded together, and their branches, drawn nearer and
nearer, end by forming a dome which the rays of the sun
seek in vain to penetrate.

“ Hungary, less devastated than Poland, has preserved a
greater proportion of her forest wealth. Although they
also have experienced the effects of the mountaineer’s
improvidence and the avidity of the commoner, the forests
occupy upon her territory an extent of 5,000,000 hectares.
‘The evergreen forests which cover the heights of Transyl-
vania have singularly to suffer from the absence of all
care. These same forests, from which the amentaces are
generally banished reappear upon the military frontiers of
Sclavonia, whose mountains especially they shade. It is
more particularly in the district of Tchaikiotes that those
lie which have retained the physiognomy of the ancient
primeval forests, such as those of Gardinovecz, of Kovill,
and of Katy.

‘Croatia is still better wooded than the military fron-
tiers, The evergreens give place to species with leaves
that fall, especially to beeches and the birch. In the
plains and valleys oaks also erect their magnificent trunks,
It is only on the frontiers of Illyria and Styria that the
pines and firs re-appear. The county of Warasdin alone
presents an extent of 14,459 hectares of forests.

‘In lower Bosnia and Servia the oak becomes the predo-
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 23

minant kind, whilst this character belongs to the fir in
Upper Bosnia and Upper Croatia. In these provinces the
firs, which commence at a height from 2,800 to 4,700 feet,
cover often lengths of 6, 10, and even 20 leagues. In
advancing towards the north of Hungary, the’ forests
approach each other.. The evergreens, by their predomin-
ance, serve to measure the elevation in latitude. Whilst the
oak still prevails in that admirable forest of Bakony, which
occupies an extent of 12 miles the counties of Verprim and
Szalad, they have almost wholly disappeared in Galicia
and upon the declivities of the Carpathians.

‘Austria offers, in her northern parts especially, a striking
contrast with Hungary. If Styria yet reckons a few fine
forests, composed principally of larches and pines, the other
provinces begin to feel greatly the want of fuel. In Lower
Austria one single forest has remained worthy of attention,
it is that of Vienna, whose vast lines of oaks, of ashes, and
elms, adorn the Kahlen mountains.

‘In Bohemia the forests, composed of the same kinds as
in the other parts of the Austrian empire, are so richly
furnished that they have to this day been adequate to the
demand for consumption, and subjected to extensive
fellings, without any yet sensible diminution.

‘Let us proceed towards the north, and cross the North
Sea, in order to penetrate into the Scandinavian Penin-
sula.

‘In Sweden we only rarely meet with vast forests; the
woods are numerous, but little productive. Dalecarlia,
Warmeland, the district of Orvebro, are the only countries
where arborescent vegetation attains sufficient energy to
cover with wood a large extent of country. They are
almost always the conifere that constitute the basis of
these forests. Sometimes, however, the birch replaces
them notably in Ostergothland. Sweden, like America
and Siberia, has her fires, that deprive ia a few moments a
24 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

whole district of its shade; but vegetable life once destroyed
revives only with difficulty upon this frozen soil.

‘In Norway the forests are more extensive; they are
suspended along the Scandinavian Alps, which separate
this country from Sweden. The birch reaches there an
altitude of 365 métres. In the diocese of Bergen the fir
has still those gigantic proportions of the forests of Swit-
zerland and Germany; but more to the north its size is
diminished to stunted proportions, and at the Polar Circle
it has totally disappeared; whilst in Swedish Lapland it
advances yet to two degrees beyond.

‘In Norway it is the birch that really serves as a ladder
to vegetation ; it is the measure of its energy, and marks
by the different states through which it passes, in propor-
tion as it rises in altitude, the degree of weakness of
vegetative life. To the weeping birch succeeds the betula
acer, which replaces the white birch; after which comes
the birch of the prairies, which passes in its turn through
different gradations of size, and which at the Polar Circle
is nothing more than a stunted shrub, of pyramidal form,
and covered with moss.

‘The Peninsula of Jutland, which in the eleventh cen-
tury Adam of Bremen designated as horrida sylvis, has
gradually lost the greatest part of its woods. One would
now seek for them in vain upon the western coast of
Schleswig. All the marsh which extends as far as the
Eider is completely despoiled of trees. The eastern coast
is a little less so, although the woods, almost wholly of
beech, are very thinly scattered.

‘When we leave Denmark, and re-enter Germany by
Holstein, forests become more numerous. Yet the Duchy
of Oldenburg announces already, by the rarity of its trees,
the vicinity of the Netherlands, where the marsh no longer
permits the appearance of forests.
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 25

‘Sicily has lost the greater part of the forests which
invested the sides of her valleys. The crests of Mounts
Gemelli, Heri, and Nebrodes are only slightly shaded.
Etna alone has saved the crown which surrounds the mean
region of her summit. The wood of Catania, which con-
stitutes the woody region, is not less than eight leagues
long. ,

‘Sardinia, less unprovided with wood than Sicily, has
seen, however, from the time of the first Carthaginian
establishments, her forest mantle gradually becoming nar-
rower from the effect of fires and in consequence of the
improvidence of the peasants. Forests form still the sixth
part of the territory of the island, and several are true
primeval forests. ‘This forest line of Sardinia continues
beyond the strait of Bonifacio, upon the chain which crosses
Corsica almost longitudinally, and the culminating points
of which are Mounts Rotondo, Paglia-Orba, Ciuto, and
Cordo. These are forests of remarkable beauty. They
are principally formed of pines, white and green oaks,
chestnuts, junipers, &c. Olive woods are distributed on
several points. In these forests there are grottoes whose
entrance is embellished with a multitude of shrubs, and
which serve as a refuge to the shepherds and their
flocks. ‘

‘Italy also possessed magnificent forests, of which there
are nothing more than a few rare vestiges. We now find
with difficulty the trace of those which the Romans have
signalised for us on account of their extent. What has
become of that celebrated Cimian wood, which, from the
borders of Lake Ronciglione, spread as far as the centre of
Etruria? It is now reduced to a few groups of wood.
One might say as much of the forest of Mcesia, of the forest
of Alba, of the Sylva Litana, which extended from the source
of the Panaro to that of Secchia, and whose name appears
to have drawn its origin from the extent it occupied.

‘One would seek vainly now for the forest of Aricie,
which the Jews doubtless began to destroy, which was
established there in the time of Juvenal.
26 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

‘Of the forests that Vibius Sequester cites as the most
extensive of Italy, that of Sila, in Bruttium, is the only
one which has escaped destruction, thanks to the special
protection with which it has long been surrounded. Strabo
tells us that it occupied an extent of 700 stadia, in the
present day, though occupying an area of considerably
smaller dimensions, it yet enjoys a notable importance, and
is above all renowned for the magnificent pines which rise
upon its slopes to a height of 120 or 130 feet. In Basili-
cate, the fine forests of oaks, which Zeuvie points out in
the environs of Lago-Negro, seem to be the remains of
the forest of Angitia, in Lucania, which Virgil has cele-
brated, and which had doubtless given its name to that
province (Lucania, from Lucas.) The forest of Garganus,
so vast in antiquity, offers now only meagre thickets.

‘The forest of Vulsinia exists still in part in the nemoral
lines which run over the mountains comprised between
the lake of Bolsena and the Tiber, and which is attached
to the last remains of the Ciminian Forest which are met
with from the Ciminie di Loriana to Tolfa, It is there
that the evergreen-oak attains astonishing dimensions.
The heights of the Apennines, in the centre of Italy,
although abodes more protected from. spoilation, have
been, however, remarkably stripped. Targioni Tozzetti
has signalised the disappearance of a great part of the
forests which formerly covered the mountains of the
province Lunigiana. The great plain of the Po is com-
pletely divested of forests; there is not a single conifera
in it. Lastly, the clearance has advanced as far as the
reverse of the chain of the Alps which separate Switzer-
land from Italy, and was remarked thirty years ago in the
valley of Aoste,

‘Spain has been less fortunate, again, than Italy. The
working of the mines from remote antiquity, and the
careless improvidence of the Castilian, have hastened the
destruction of the arborescent kinds. The centre of the
peninsula is now almost totally deprived of trees. A few
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. a7

yews, service-trees, and maples, are actually, in Sierra-
Tejada, the only vestiges of the forests which crowned
these mountains. The Sierra de las Almijarras presents
still a few woody crests. Here and there clumps of oaks
and firs shade the Sierra de Toloza, In the Sierra
Nevada the pine constitutes wood of from 20 to 30 feet ;
whilst two different species of pines give rise to some
forests in Granada. The Balearic Isles are entirely
stripped of their trees; and one would seek in vain in
the Pityusae (Ivica and Tormentera) for the pines to
which they are indebted for their names,’

The description of the other forests of Europe con-
stitutes the special subject of M. Marny’s work; but it 1s
given at too great length for quotation; enough has been
quoted to indicate that formerly Europe must have been
covered with forests.

Moreover, according to Marsh, in Southern Europe,
Breul, Broglio, Brolio, Brolo; and, in Northern Europe,
Breuil, and the endings -dean, -den, -don, -ham, -holt,
-herst, -hurst, -lund, -schaw, -shot, -skog, -skov, -wald,
-weald, -wold, -wood, are all etymologically indicative
of the places so named having been situated in woods
or groves, though it may be no woods or groves are exist-
ing there now, and these are numerous.

In England we have not a few of such names; and we
have the names of numerous forests which have partially
or entirely disappeared, details of which I have given in
The Forests of England, and the Management of them in
Bye-gone Times [pp. 136-139 ; 140-167].

On the maps of Scotland, according to Chalmers, the
learned author of Caledonia, there are a thousand names
of places derived from forests which no longer exist, and
there also we have remains of forests which once covered
extensively the land—Ettrick Forest, and the Caledonian
28 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

Forest, and others which have been celebrated in history
and in song.*

Chalmers, in his work entitled Caledonia, to which
reference has been made, tells that during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, not only the king, but the bishops,
barons, and abbots, had their forests in every district of
North Britain ;’ and be adds, ‘it will scarce be credited
that many black moors which now disfigure the fave of the
country, and produce only barren heath, were formerly
clothed with wood, and furnished useful timber and excel- _
lent pasturage ; yet it is a fact clearly proved by the posi-
tive evidence of record, a great part of which is now
without a tree.’

Corroborative evidence of the existence of forests afore-
time, where forests now there are none, is afforded by
immense quanities of wood found in various places in peat
bogs and similar formations.

Similar remains of ancient forests buried in the ground
and submerged in the sea are met with in England, details
in regard to some of which are given in Forests of England,
d&c. [pp. 168-188]. In Ireland also we meet with the
remains of buried forests; and in Scotland they are not
awanting.

 

* Mention is made by Pliny of the Caledonian Forest. The ancient town of Caledonia
had become in Buchanan’s time, in the 16th century, he tells us, vulgarly (or commonly)
called Dunkeld—the Hill of Hazel Trees; ‘for here,’ says he, ‘the hazel tree spreads
itself widely in these uncultivated places, and having covered the country with shady
woods, gave a name both to the town and to the tribe.’ Upon this statement Aikman,
the translator of Buchanan’s History of Scotland, remarks in a note :—‘ This derivation
of the name is now generally allowed to be correct, though some Gaelic etymologists
derive it from Dun ghael dhun— the fortress of the Gaels of the hills.” (Stat. vol.
xx, p. 411.) The name Caledonians, which belonged to the tribe, who formed one part
of the Pictish kingdom, Mr Pinkerton alleges was given them by their neighbours, and
it would seem means Woodlanders, as their territories were then covered with woods,
and especially the vast Sylva Caledonia. -(Inq. vol. i. p. 20.)

By Latin writers the name Caledonia was applied to the whole peninsula north of.the
Forth, and there is reason to believe that, at a time long after the days of Pliny, the
whole country was still thickly covered with woods. Buchanan tells :—‘ Beneath
Caledonia, about twelve miles on the same right bank, is Perth. On the left bank,
below Athole, looking towards the east, lies the Carse of Gowrie, a noble corn country.
Beyond this again, between the Tay and the Esk, extends the county of Angus, or as
the ancient Scots termed it Aeneia, by some called Horrestia (so named from the
Horesti, a tribe mentioned by Tacitus, but omitted by Ptolemy), and by the English
Forestia (woodland). In this tract are the cities of Cupar and Dundee, which Boethius,
desirous of gratifying his countrymen, calls Deidonum (the gift of God), but of which
I think the ancient name was Taodunum, that is a hill near the Tay, dun signifying a
hill, at the bottom of which the town is built,’
ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE, 29

In Denmark, once the horrid forest, now a land where
ancient forests exist no more, buried remains of ancient
forests have been found in such abundance, and so pre-
served, and in such succession of superposition, that they
have commanded the attention of some of the first
archzologists of the age; and these have been able to fur-
nish us with the details of the order in which different kinds.
of trees have in succession existed there,—and ‘to carry
back our.study of prehistoric forests to the times in which
were formed some of the Kjékken-middings of Scandinavia
—times so remote that though archeologists speak of
them as of eras of unquestionable antiquity, the recital
would seem to some to be but the creation of a dis-
ordered fancy. :
CHAPTER III.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS IN EUROPE.

THE extent to which in different countries there are
names of placés with a reference to woods where now
woods or forests there are none, and remains of trees are
found submerged or buried where now trees no longer
grow, tells of the change which has taken place in the
forestal character of Europe, and accords with allusions
and explicit statements preserved by history; and in
comparing the present appearance of Europe with what
it must have been’ when a land of forests, it becomes
interesting to enquire in what way these forests came to
disappear.

There is such a thing as a natural decay of trees, by
which I mean a decay which occurs, it may be altogether
irrespective of man, and of man’s doings. In an old wood
there may sometimes be seen staghorn-like branches at
the very top, or at the extremities of some of the lower
boughs. Thisis an indication of decay. Sometimes there
may be seen on a living tree a dead branch, or an entire
side apparently dead, or actually so. Sometimes there
may be seen a lofty tree growing with apparent vigour,
but with only a hollow trunk, a mere shell remaining; or
a tree may be found standing erect but quite dead ; or it
may be, multitudes of trees lie uprooted and prostrate,
dead, or dying. In all such cases a knowledge of the
physiology of vegetation may enable an experienced
observer to tell at once how the decay, or the death of
the trees has come about. Most probably in the first men-
tioned case the roots of the tree had exhausted the
nutriment within reach of the extremities of the rootlets.
DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS. 31

In the second case the evil may have been done by the
weight of a load of snow resting on it in winter, or by the
growth upon it of some parisitic fungus. In the third
case the damage may have been done by a thunderstroke,
or through the leaves having become infested with a
destructive insect; in the next case the decay of the
trunk may be attributable to a twig having been broken
by some bird or beast ; while in the last mentioned case
all may have been the consequence of a gale. Such
accidents are of frequent occurence.

But all the destruction caused or occasioned thus is
as nothing compared with the destruction which has been
occasioned by man. In the organic structure of man,
and in many other organisms besides, there may be seen
at times a remedial operation going on ascribed to what
in default of fuller knowledge has been called the vis
mediatrix ; so do we find in operation in primeval forests a
remedial process whereby trees thus destroyed are re-
placed by others—it may be their supericrs in the vege-
table scale; but the destruction effected by man has been
carried on so extensively as to render in general this
provision unavailing or insufficient to repair his devastating
work. Sometimes this destruction by him has been wrought
with a purpose; sometimes it has been wrought only in
recklessness of consequences ; sometimes his only purpose
may have been to obtain a beam or a switch; sometimes
it may have been done to clear the ground for agriculture ;
sometimes through his sending his flocks or herds into the
forest for pasture without any thought of damage; some-
times through his kindling a fire wherewith to cook his
provisions, and neglecting to extinguish it on leaving;
sometimes through his throwing down a burning match
after lighting his pipe ; sometimes through his burning the
bushes, or grass, or herbage, outside the wood to clear the
ground for the plough, or with a view to securing a new
succulent crop for his herds, and not keeping fire under
control, and the extensive destruction of forests was the
consequence.
32 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

From the time when arborescent vegetation entered on
the struggle for existence with the herbaceous vegetation
which may at first have taken possession of the soil, if
such there was, which struggle was to issue in the survival
of the fittest, up to the period when victory was secured
by the trees, and for ages thereafter, the forest was making
increase of itself like the growing babe, the growing boy,
the growing youth, and the man in his prime, up to middle
age and beyond it. There was waste going on; again and
again, times innumerable, the leaves, one by one, died
and fell from the tree—one by one they fell, individually
unmissed, but in their totality considerable: that was
waste; and other leaves and fruits were eaten ere they
were so mature as to fall. But beyond these a destruction
of whole trees—patriarchal trees, monarchs in the wood—
occasioned by bird, or beast, or insect it may be, or by the
winds of heaven, was going on ali the while: a spray got
broken, or a leaf in falling carried with it a portion of the
bark ; the moisture of rain, or’dew, or hoarfrost, or snow,
got access to the wound; the moisture evaporated, but
somehow or other the torn wood got oxydised, rotting as
does the stake planted in the ground, at the junction line
between wind and weather; and the decay spread, slowly
it may be, very slowly perhaps, but there was no occasion
tc take account of time. We are speaking of the working
of Him with whom a thousand years are as one day, while
at other times one day is a thousand years, The result
was the total destruction of the tree. It fell and perished,
But for ages the destruction was as nothing to the increase ;
. waste went on, but the increase by growth exceeded this,
and the forest continued year by year, century by century,
to make increase of itself. Thus it continued till man
came upon the scene, and then began another era the
issue of which we have not yet seen.

The recuperative power of a forest is wonderful; but
with the coming of man upon the scene there came a
disturbing element against which it could maintain a
DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS. at

struggle for a time with some measure of success, but
before which it has, let us hope only temporarily, suc-
cumbed. By that recuperative power, for ages all waste
by natural causes in primeval times was replaced, and not
. only so, but the woods continued to extend themselves, and
make increase; but with the introduction of this disturb-
ing element all has been changed. Where the restoration
was equivalent to the destruction, the equipoise has been
disturbed ; where the growth or production was in excess
of the waste, this has been reversed. There may have
been aforetime, as now, extensive destruction of forests by
natural causes, and doubtless there were, but in process of
time the loss appears to have been repaired and the forest
restored. I have intimated that even after the intro-
duction of this disturbing element the struggle was main-
tained for some time with success ; and from incidents in
this struggle we may form some idea of the greatness of
the recuperative power and the mode of its operation.

It is frequently the case that where forests happen to
have been cleared away by accidental fire, forthwith a
fresh crop of trees, sometimes of the same kind as those
destroyed, but frequently, perhaps more frequently, of a
different kind springs up. A similar occurrence has
frequently been seen in connection with the destruction
of herbaceous plants. After the great fire of London, in
1666, there sprung up profusely on the streets flowers
which had not been seen there before the fire; where a
piece of quicklime has fallen upon a moor the vegetation
on the spot has perished, but oftentimes there has appeared
in its stead a tuft of white clover; when the foundation of
St. George’s Church, in Capetown, was dug, there appeared
on the rubbish a luxuriant crop of a plant previously
unknown in the locality; and in the London Medical Record |
of 1871 we read :—

‘The mines of Laurium, which gave rise recently to
such lively diplomatic discussion, are generally known io
be largely encumbered with scoriz, proceeding from the
working of. the ancient Greeks, but still containing enough

D
34 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

of silver to repay extraction by the improved modern
methods. Professor Hendreich relates, according to
L’Union Médicale, that under these scoriz, for at least
1,500 years, has slept the seed of a poppy of the species
Glaucium. After the refuse had been removed to the
furnaces, from the whole space which they had covered
have sprung up and flowered the pretty yellow corollas of
this flower, which was unknown to modern science, but is
described by Pliny and Vioscorides. This flower had dis-
appeared for fifteen to twenty centuries, and its reproduc-
tion at this interval is a fact parallel to the fertility of the
famous “mummy wheat.”’

Many like cases are mentioned by Marsh* in regard to
the unexpected appearance not only of herbaceous, but
also of ligneous vegetables. In Northern Europe I have
had details given to me in regard to numerous cases of
coniferous woods having been destroyed and birches
springing up in their place. The remains of trees found
at different depths in peat-bogs in Denmark testify to a
continuous succession of forests of different kinds of trees
having appeared in the same locality. The laws regu--
lating the succession have to some extent been evolved,
and attention has been given to sources whence the seeds
have proceeded ; but it is the fact alone with which we are
at present concerned. In a volume entitled Réboisement in
France (pp. 45-47) I have cited cases of extinct torrents
which have been extinguished by the natural extension of
forests over ground which had been previously denuded
of these ; and in the American State of Ohio there exist
remarkable mounds and earthworks, constructed by man’s
device, overgrown with a dense clothing of forest not dis-
tinguishable, or scarcely distinguishable, in dimensions or
character of growth from the neighbouring forests, the soil
of which had probably never been disturbed. Such has
been the recuperative power of the forest, and such is it
still; but in the unequal struggle with man forests have

 

» The Earth as Modified by Human Action.
DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS. 35

at length extensively disappeared. Whether this has been
a blessing or a curse affects not the fact, which is such as
I have stated.

Without speaking presumptuously of what must havelbeen
the purposes of God, as if He were altogether such an one
as ourselves, or forgetting that all that the more moderate
theologians speak of are the Attributes of God, for which
they claim no higher position than that they are what they
or others iu their ignorance attribute to Him, we may
reverently speak of what has actually occurred. In doing so
the fact which has been stated may be accepted ; and with
it the additional fact, that as the earth advanced through
its changing conditions, it became progressively prepared
and fitted for the flora of the present ; and in like manner
for the fauna of the present; and also for the residence of
man, who found in the forests a shelter and a home; but
who found also there materials which he could make use of
in effecting many of his purposes: building a house or place
of shelter, fencing cultivated spots to keep off the beasts
of the field, and making implements for which he had
occasion, and weapons which he could make use of in
hunting, or in defending himself and his family, if not also
in committing injury and wrong ;, but who even then may
have begun to find these sheltering forests a cumbrance,
preventing him from artificially cultivating, so extensively
as he desired, other plants which were good for food.
Then by fire and axe he may have sought the removal of
at least a portion of them; and effecting this, he may have
found, though he may not have realised, or even under-
stood, or even perceived the fact, that in the centuries of
growth through which these trees had passed, they had
prepared a soil for such cultures as he wished to practise ;
and that the ashes remaining, after he had consumed them
by fire, promoted the growth of the plants he was culti-
vating.. And in process of time, with increased experience
of this, and intensified energy, he may have proceeded
more and more extensively to fell and to destroy, till the
36 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

forest first becoming a fruitful field, then partially, but to a
great extent, the site of industrial establishments, and the
site of cities, and the dwelling-place of a population advan-
cing in civilisation, and in intellect, and in culture, with
results which are now to be seen.

Such is one view of what has occurred, but there is yet
another. .

The forest was the paradise of the ‘wild man of the
woods.’ It was his Eden, his garden of delights; but ere
he left it he began to destroy it, and his descendants, his
improved descendants, have carried on the work of
destruction initiated by him, and they have substituted
for the paradise of Eden the paradise—I had almost said
the ‘ fool’s paradise ’—of modern life in the capitals and
pleasure haunts of what is called advanced civilisation.
The advancement is great, but the cost has been consider-
able. Forests, or trees of which forests are composed, are
still useful in the world’s economy. The supply, though
great, was not inexhaustible. Destruction has in many
places been carried so far that privation has proved hurt-
ful in its effects. And now there must be a judicious
conservation and exploitation of what remains; aye, and in
some places man must restore again what he had taken
away, or the consequences may be fatal.

What seems to me to be an apt illustration of what
has been going on suggests itself. In the animal ecomony
there may be seen and traced in the life history of every
man who lives to extreme old age, a process which is
similiar to what has occurred in the history of the ancient
forests of Europe: in the infant, in the child, in the youth,
in the man in the prime of life, the man in middle life,
and in the man in old age, there is going on simultaneously
a correlative process of growth and decay, of nourishment
and waste, of assimilation and elimination. Many among
us have been eating for twenty, for fifty, it may be, for
eighty years. What has become of all the material we
have eaten in all these years? Whereas we might by this
DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS. 37

time have equalled the elephant in bulk, we seem to have
been for years of the same size and our bulk unchanged. It
may seem to be so; but it is not exactly so. Never have
we lifted a finger, never have we unconsciously winked,
but the act has occasioned a waste of tissues of the body ;
and as it is with these so it has been with every act of our
life ; and the food we have taken has gone to supply this
waste, and therefore have I spoken of these two processes
being correlative. If, however, we were by.a well-known
practice to represent the measure of these processes at the
progressive stages of man’s life by a line we should find
that the form taken by neither would be a straight line,
but that of a curve, starting from a low point, gradually
ascending, and again descending: little being eaten in
childhood ; more in youth and in manhood ; less again in
old age. But it would be found that the curve represent-
ing the waste and elimination, though similar in its general
outline differed from this in its curvature; the curve
representative of the quantity of food assimilated in the
early life representing an excess above that of waste,
growth in stature and in bulk being a consequence; with
the two curves approaching to parallelism in middle life :
but the assimilation being then slightly in excess of waste.
is accompanied by a slight increase in bulk but not in
stature; while in old age the: curve of assimilation is far
below that of waste and elimination, with the accom-
panying result that he who was once a strapping youth, and
presented afterwards a noble manly figure, has become a
little wee, wee old man.

Thus has it been with forests in Europe. Once they
covered extensively the whole land, now they are reduced
in most lands to a limited area, and in many localities
they have entirely disappeared, while in others, though
they still retain a footing, they look like things which are
ready to perish and vanish away.
CHAPTER IV.

EVILS WHICH HAVE FOLLOWED THE EXTENSIVE
DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS IN EUROPE.

Section A.—Scarcity oF TIMBER AND FIREWOOD.

LaRGE timber is every year becoming more and more
searce; and had it not happened that iron is extensively
used instead of it the deficient supply would have been
felt painfully, In some of the extensive forests whence
supplies of timber are obtained, large areas, embracing
most of those from which timber can easily be brought
out, have been cleared of trees yielding such timber as is
desired. This has now to be obtained from areas more
remote, and more difficult of access, and thus the expense
of bringing the timber to market has become greatly
increased ; prices have risen, and they have been prevented
from rising higher only through the extensive use of
iron in shipbuilding and other industries in which timber
was formerly employed. In many cases the increased
price is not sufficient to cover the increased expense of
bringing the timber to market. In Russia I was informed
that to such an extent was this the case that by some the
timber trade was continued only because they were
already in the trade with established connections, and
with skill and capital invested in the enterprise ; moreover,
wood-cutters were in debt to them, and these men having
to purchase from them their supplies they had thus a narrow
margin of profit which still made the prosecution of the
work remunerative, and a little—a very little more. And
the distance which such timber has to be brought from
the place of growth to the port of shipment is still pro-
gressively becoming greater and greater.

As with timber, so is it with firewood in some countries in
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 39

which this is reckoned among the necessaries of life. In
these the demand for firewood is such that there must be
kept up a supply; but this is done with a rise in price,
which rise is ever increasing as the supplies have to be
brought from ever-increasing distances. Thus it is in
the larger cities of Russia; and there in mining districts
the continuation of smelting and manufacturing operations
has in many cases been found to be unprofitable. In
India, some twenty years ago, the destruction of forests
in connection with the construction and the working of
railways, imperilled the very existence of large communities
through the diminution thus occasioned iv their supply
of fuel needed for lesser industries, and for the preparation
of their food. In Siberia and in Mongolia dry cow dung
is extensively made use of by the Mongols, under the
‘name of argol; and in South Africa the same material
and sheeps’ droppings called mist constitute in many
districts the only fuel made use of. But from this the
Indians shrunk ; and, some influenced perhaps by religious
_prejudice, would have died rather than make use of such
fuel. With the abundant supply of coal which exists in
Britain, this evil may not be felt here ; but it is otherwise
elsewhere.

In a volume entitled French Forest Ordinance of 1669:
with Historical Sketch of Previous Treatment of Forests in
France, I have given details of the crisis produced in
France, which called forth the memorable saying of
Colbert, minister of Louis XIV., France perira faute des
Bois / and the delight with which this Ordinance, designed
to arrest the destruction of forests, was hailed in other
countries in Europe in which it is still spoken of as the
Famous Ordinance of 1669, tells of the extent to which the
evils mentioned were then prevalent.

Of such evils it may be alleged that they are simply
the privation of what has been destroyed, in accordance
with what is taught to children, that they cannot both
eat their cake and keep it, spend their shilling and retain
it. But other evils have followed.
40 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.
SEcTION B.—DROUGBTS.

More generally felt, perhaps, than the scarcity of timber
and firewood, is the effect produced upon the humidity of
a country by the destruction of its forests. There is, I
believe, much of prejudice and much of error mixed up
with the prevailing popular beliefs on this subject; but
the confirmation of the underlying fact given by scientific
observations may warrant us in receiving, if necessary with
some allowance, the testimony which so many are ready
to bear—accepting the fact. though explaining differently
in what way the fact has been produced. Again and
again one hears that Spain has been ruined through
drought consequent on the destruction of her forests; and,
as if by some general concensus, there have poured in
upon us, from lands remote from one another and diversely
conditioned, tales of privation, if not of distress, occasioned
by aridity consequent on the destruction of forests, remind-
ing one of the narrative given of the troubles and losses of
Job—while one is yet speaking in comes another; and:
while he is yet speaking, another; and while he is yet
speaking, another.

It is a prevalent opinion that trees attract clouds and
rain ; and that mountains and the sea de the same The
phenomena which have given rise to these opinions can be
otherwise explained, and that more satisfactorily, by sup-
posing the clouds to have been formed where they appear,
and not been merely attracted thither; and that that does
take place can be proved.

In a volume entitled Hydrology of South Africa ; or,
details af the former condition of the Cape of Good Hope,
and of the causes of its present aridity, with suggestions of
appropriate remedies for this aridity, I have shown that
the desiccation of that country is attributable, primarily, to
the drainage of much of the rainfall from the land to the
sea ; secondarily, to the evaporation of much which is not
so carried away, which evaporation, at one time greatly
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. al

retarded by the existence of forests, has for a considerable
time been going on unchecked in consequence of ‘the
extensive destruction of herbage and trees. Facts might
be cited to show that such is the case with Spain in an
almost equal degree, and that such is the case to a lesser
extent with the greater part of Central and Southern
Europe.

In a second volume, entitled -Water Supply of South
Africa, and Facilities for the Storage of it, I have shown
that notwithstanding the aridity of South Africa there is
still a sufficient supply of moisture there to fertilise
extensively the country, if that moisture were husbanded
and properly applied. The same may be said of Spain
where this is being done to an extent of which few have
any conception. By storage and irrigation, and by con-~
servation, restoration, and extension of forests, it is sought
to minimise as much as possible the effects which have
followed the destruction of forests in that land.

In a third volume, entitled Forests and Moisture ; or
Effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate, I have dis-
cussed many of the views which have been advanced upon
the subject—views in regard to the action of each leaf, and
views in regard to the action of forest masses—with the
conclusion that the production of forests in the localities
in which they have existed has been greatly influenced
by the distribution of the rainfall, or the humidity of
atmosphere upon which the rainfall depends; and that
their subsequent effect upon the atmosphere has been
within certain limits to equalise the distribution of the
rainfall in time and in space. Thus:

Where, the land is densely wooded the rains may be
found diffused more or less equably over several months in
the year, and may frequently be of a drizzling character,
while in a land similarly situated, devoid of trees, rain
falls irregularly in what seems like thunder plumps, and,
in extreme cases, whole years may pass without rain, as is
the case in the Karoo, South Africa; and the rain in the
forest land may fall pretty equably over the whole district,
42 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

while in the land devoid of forests it falls now here, now
there, falls, it may be, in torrents, deluging the land,
while extensive districts are left dry—both occasioning
great inequality in the distribution even where the
quantity of rain falling may be proximately equal; and the
inequality in benefit from what falls is made still greater
by the torrential occasional rains draining of rapidly to the
river beds, and by them to the sea, while the woodlands
absorb and retain a much larger portion of what falls upon
them. And thus is fulfilled what is written—‘ The earth
which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, bringeth
forth herbs, meet for those by whom it is dressed, and
receiveth the blessing of God: but that which beareth
thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing.’

In works on Forest Science, published on the Continent,
there abound statements relative to the effect of forests in
maintaining humidity of soil and climate.

The following more popular allusions to the effect of
forests upon the humidity and consequent fertility of a
country I find amongst others cited in Le Bulletin de la
ligue du Reboisement de Algérie. I have numbered them
to facilitate reference to any, should this be desired.

1, ‘In felling trees growing on the sides and summits
of mountains, men under all climates prepare for subse-
quent generations two calamities at once—a lack of fire-
wood, and a want of water’— Humboldt.

2. ‘ Whoever kills a tree, kills a Servian,—-A Servian
Proverb.

3. ‘“Replant or be accursed!” may every one of his
fellow citizens say to the landholder who uproots his
forest ; “ You are refusing to us water.” ’—Rauch.

4, ‘ Now may be seen clearly whither tends this fatal
connection of cause and effect which begins with the
destruction of forests, and ends in the miseries of the
population : dooming thus the man to share the ruin of
the soil which he has devastated.’—Surell,

5, ‘It is always hazardous to interfere, however slightly,
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 43

with that which nature has arranged by the work of time
—the work of ages. There is often destroyed in a few days
by man, through ignorance or cupidity, the work of hun-
dreds of centuries ; then, full of surprise at the disorder
occasioned by himself, he accuses Providence, makes proces-
sions and neuvaines [nine days’ devotions, an observance
practised in the Romish Church], in order to conciliate
God ; but taking good care not to think of himself as the
principal cause of the evil from which he is suffering.’ —
Viollet-le-Duc.

6. ‘ It is especially necessary in warm countries to preserve
the forests, because on the one hand they keep down the
temperature, and because on the other they induce rains,
without which there is no vegetation possible. The salva-
tion of the colony of Algiers can only at this price be
secured. —Mahé.

7. ‘By the single act of a pioneer settler clearing virgin
soil, he alters the network of isothermal, isothermal, and
isochimenal lines [lines of equal mean temperature, of
equal summer temperature, and of equal winter tempera-
ture] over a country. One may say, in general terms,
that the forests are similar to the sea in their influence,
reducing the natural difference of temperature in the
different seasons, while the destruction of forests increases
the difference between the extreme heat and the extreme
cold, imparts greater violence to atmospheric currents and
to torrential rains, and a protracted duration to droughts.
. . . Marsh fevers even, and other epidemic diseases,
have often made an irruption into a district when woods,
or simple screens of protecting trees, have fallen under the
axe. As for the water-flow, and the climatic conditions
on which it depends, one cannot doubt for a moment that
the clearing away of woods has had the effect of disturbing
its regularity. The rain, which the interlaced branches of
the trees allow to fall drop by drop, and which would swell
up the spongy mosses upon which it fell, or which would
trickle slowly across the dead leaves, and the long fibrous
masses of the roots, flows away at once with rapidity over
44 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the soil to form temporary streamlets, in place of sinking
into the ground to descend to the depths and rise again in
fertilising springs, or glides rapidly along the surface, and
goes to lose itself in rivers and floods. The ground above
becomes arid in the same proportion as the running waters
increase below. The full river flowings become changed
into inundations, and devastate the adjacent country,
where immense disasters follow. —Elisée Reclus—La Terre,

8. ‘In the place of the fertile fields of cis-Atlantic
Africa, we find now nothing but plains rendered sterile by
desiccation and the absence of trees. —A. Maury— Histoire
des Grande Foréts de la Gaule.

9. ‘In proportion as the ancient forests disappeared,
springs dried up, certain races of animals died out, and
winds which were previously unknown made their appear-
ance. The land daily loses some element of its fertility ;
from its bosom, which continuous mutilations devastate,
there come forth hosts of evils, the saddening influences of
which mar the enjoyment of our transitory existence.’ —
Rauch—-Régénération de la nature végetale.

10. ‘From Madrid to Jerusalem history and geography
tell the same tale: forests given up to sheep, forests
destroyed ; mountains devoid of woods, mountains devoid
of life,,—Broidlliard—Les Massifs de Sapin et la disette de Bows
en France,

11. ‘The members of the Congress in Algiers who have
gone through the different provinces of the colony, have
been struck with the state of devastation in which they
have seen many of our forests. Exploited on no settled
system, left open and subjected to depredatious by the
natives, desolated by frequent fires, ruined by the passage
of flocks of goats and of sheep, which devour the young
twigs and shoots, our forests are far from yielding to the
country the revenue which might be obtained from them ;
it is a source of wealth not yet exploited, or exploited with
reckless waste, which is still worse. We have seen forests
of the Thuya, in which the young trees have been literally
annihilated by the goats,’—Chesnel—Génie Civil.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 45

12, ‘It is not wars which have brought most evil upon
the region of the Mediterranean, but aridity, brought on
and aggravated by the reckless destruction of woods, and
by the excessive abuse of pasturing sheep on the moun-
tains,’ — Dehérain.

13. ‘The clearing away of woods—in that lies the prin-
cipal cause of the arrest to which agriculture has been
subjected in Algeria. —M. Calmels— Génie Civil.

14, ‘With a view to preserve our nomades from utter
ruin, the Administration has adopted a measure which is
likely to be afterwards bitterly deplored : it has authorised
the depasturing of flocks in the State forests. Now, to let

. sheep, goats, and camels ramble in the woods, or rather
bushy shrubberies, of Africa, is to doom these to a rapid
disappearance, while the forest should be preserved as the
most precious of all possessions, extended and carefully
treated as the most powerful agent in promoting fertility.

‘The clearing away of forests, which induces aridity,
appears to me to be the cause of sterility. —Deherain—Pro-
fessor in the Museum of the School of Grignon—Génie Civil.

15. ‘The pbylloxera has its propagation facilitated, or
has the way prepared forit by the most powerful and most
general enemy of this entire region. It is manifest that
this is the enemy, which equally with that or still more,
should command our attention and our vigilant watch-
fulness, and that against which we ought to contend with’
our greatest energy.

‘With us it is the enemy not only of the vine, but of all*
our cultures: this enemy which successively and progres-
sively has made the peasant to give up the culture of flax,
of hemp, of maize, and of grain; this enemy which has
constrained us to substitute for the culture of the cereals,
which had become almost unproductive, that of the vine,
an arborescent culture with deeper roots; this enemy,
which is increasing every day, will ere long come to ruin
even the culture of bushes and fruit-trees; this enemy as
terrible, as immediate, as the phylloxera, is the DROUGHT,’
—Jules Maistre.
46 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

16. ‘ Algeria in her turn is passing through a crisis, out
of which she ought to come more vigorous; at the
present time she is wholly for the culture of the vine, and
perhaps she will yet find that evil which is expected will
come upon her to turn her from the way in which she is
advancing with such vigour ; it is a certainty that the cul-
ture of the vine will lead during the next few years to riches
hitherto unknown, and will certainly contribute in a large
measure to the progress of Algeria; but it is necessary to
bear in mind that there is no culture more dangerous, and
it is not without trembling that one looks forward to the
ravages which the invasion of the phylloxera will occasion
in a country prosecuting too ardently the creation of vine-
yards; the evil will be terrible, and progress will be
completely arrested. But Algeria rewooded and irrigated
is proof against every catastrophe, for all kinds of culture
are then open to her.’-—Déherain.

17. ‘It may be said that the measure of attention given
to trees indicates the condition of the agriculture and
civilisation of a country.’—Mahé.

18. ‘On the presence of forests on the mountains depends
the existence of crops, and the life of the population.
Here the existence of wood is no longer, as it is on the
plains, a question of convenience; it is the question; of
“to be or nat to be.” ’—Surell.

19. ‘In a forest the mean temperature is always lower
than it is in a denuded country; but the difference is less
marked in winter than it is in summer; the maximum
temperatures are always lower, and the minimum tempera-
tures are always higher. In a forest the reduction and
increase of temperature always advances more slowly ; the
temperature there is always more equal in the day and in
the night, between one day and another, and from season
to season : sudden changes of temperature, if they do not
last long, do not make themselves felt; from all which we
are warranted in concluding that forests tend to keep
down the general temperature of a country—on the other
hand they tend to diminish the degree of sudden changes
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 47

and to avert thunder storms,’—Rapports Annuels de Météoro-
logie Forestiére,

20. ‘The chemical action of forests explains moreover
the property possessed by some kinds of trees to produce
a sanitary effect on localities and districts by decomposing
or arresting gasiform deleterious elements,’— Mahé,

21. ‘The immense extent of the area occupied by forests
on the earth may be considered proof that nature designed
to assign to them some action in the terrestrial pheno-
mena,’— Dupin.

22. ‘Forests, waters, and prairies, are the three great
laboratories of nature whence proceed all the good things
which ought to minister to man’s happiness on the earth.
Forests manifestly, next to the sun, are of the greatest ser-
vice; they seem to have a reaction on all the harmonies of
the globe.. Under the truly happy influence exercised by
them everything prospers,’— Rauch,

23. ‘ By the majestic calm of its silence, by the sounds
produced by its animation or its agitation, by the intensity
of its verdure, and by the varied tones of its tints, by its
essences or perfumes, by its pure atmosphere, by I know
not what enchanting prestige, by its harmonies as by its
contrasts, this sweet and mysterious society of trees which
we call by the name of forest, communicates to us the
most lively and most contrary impressions. The soul of
the forest seems to act upon our own, and to cause it to
vibrate in unison.’—.Vahé.

There may be much of sentimentalism in much of this,
but it tells how forests are looked at by some of the dis-
tinguished students of forest economy of the day. One
more, and J have done.

24, ‘To give a résume of what has been said—the forest
occupies an important place in nature, in commerce, in
agriculture, and in hygiene. It creates soil out of every-
thing, and breaks this up and enriches it; it equalises and
‘regulates the temperature, and the flow of water; it is our
best safeguard against inundations; it renders salubrious
48 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. .

at once the earth and the atmosphere ; it refreshes the
moral and restores the physical in man; it gives to him
enjoyment in the beauties of nature, through the splen-
dour of its vegetation. We see in these, titles to protection
against the abusive treatment to which it is subjected. It
is for nations, but above all for governments, to take good
heed.’ —Caveant Consules—Mahé,

In most of these, if not in all of them, I find a designed
or undesigned reference to the effects of forests in main-
taining humidity of soil and climate, the loss of which,
though in some cases it may have been beneficial to man,
has been extensively so disadvantageous to man as to
warrant its being spoken of as an evil. More detailed and
specific statements are not alacking. The following are
cited by Schleiden in his work entitled The Plant: a
Biography :—

‘ Almost everywhere,’ says Schleiden, Professor of Botany
in the University of Jena, ‘in the great characters in which

_ nature writes her chronicles, in fossilized woods, layers of
peat, and the like, or even in the little notes of men, for
instance in the records of the Old Testament, occur proof,
or at least indications, that those countries which are now
treeless and arid deserts, part of Egypt, Syria, Persia, and
so forth, were formerly thickly wooded, traversed by streams
now dried up or shrunk within narrow bounds; while now
the burning glow of the sun, and particularly the want of
water, allow but a sparse population. In contrast must
not a jovial toper laugh indeed, who looks from Johannis-
berg out over the Rhine country, and drinks a health in
Riidesheimer to the noblest of the German rivers, if he
recall the statement of Tacitus, that not even a cherry,
much less a grape, would ripen on the Rhine! And if we
ask the cause of this mighty change, we are directed to
the disappearance of the forests. With the careless
destruction of the growth of trees, man interferes to alter
greatly the natural conditions of the country. We can
indeed now raise one of the finest vines upon the Rhine,
EVILS FOLLOWING DESIRUCTION OF FORESTS. 49

where two thousand years ago no cherry ripened; but on
the other hand, those lands where the dense population of
the Jews was nourished by a fruitful culture are in the
present day half deserts. The cultivation of clover,
requiring a moist atmosphere, has passed from Greece to
Italy, from thence to Southern Germany, and already is
beginning to fly from the continually drier summers there
to be confined to the moister north. Rivers which formerly
scattered their blessings with equal fulness throughout the
whole year, now leave the dry and thirsty bed to split and
gape in summer, while in spring they suddenly pour out
masses of snow, accumulated in winter, over the dwelling-
places of affrighted men. If the continued clearing and
destruction of forests is at first followed by greater warmth,
more southern climate, and more luxuriant thriving of the
more delicate plants, yet it draws close behind this desir-
able condition another which restrains the habitability of
a region within as narrow, and perhaps even narrower,
limits than before. In Egypt no Pythagoras need now
forbid his scholars to live upon the beans ; long has that
land been incapable of producing them. The wine of
Mendes and Mareotis, which inspired the guests of
Cleopatra—which was celebrated even by Horace—it grows
no more. No assassin now finds the holy pine-grove of
Poseidon, in which to hide and lie in ambush for the
singers hastening to the feast. The pine has long since
retired from the invading desert climate to the heights of
the Arcadian Mountains. Where are the pastures now,
where are the fields around the holy citadel of Dardanus,
which at the foot of the richly-watered Ida supported
three thousand mares? Who can talk now of the
« Xanthus,” with its hurrying waters? Who would under-
stand now the “ Argos feeder of horses ?”’

In view of this waste Schleiden writes, if not in the
words, yet following the train of thought of one of the
noblest veterans of our science, the venerable Elias Fries, of
Lund: ‘A broad band of waste land follows gradually in
the steps of cultivation. Ifit expands, its contre and cradle

&
50 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

dies, and on the outer borders only do we find green shoots.
But it is not impossible, it is only difficult, for man, with-
out renouncing the advantage of culture itself, one day to
make reparation for the injury which he has inflicted: he
is appointed lord of creation. True it is that thorns and
thistles, ill-favoured and poisonous plants, well named by
botanists “rubbish plants,” mark the track which man has
proudly traversed through the earth. Before him lay
original nature in ther wild but sublime beauty, behind
him he leaves the desert, a deformed and ruined land ; for
childish desire of destruction, or thoughtless squandering
of vegetable treasures, have destroyed the character of
nature; and man himself flies terrified from the arena of
his actions, leaving the impoverished earth to barbarous
races or animals, so long as yet another spot in virgin
beauty smiles before him. Here again, in selfish pursuit
of profit, consciously or unconsciously, he begins anew the
work of destruction. Thus did: cultivation, driven out,
leave the East and the deserts perhaps previously robbed
of their coverings. Like the wild hordes of old over beau- .
tiful Greece, thus rolls this conquest with fearful rapidity
from east to west through America; and the planter often
now leaves the already exhausted land, the eastern climate
becoming infertile through the demolition of the forests, to
introduce a similar revolution into the far west. But we
see, too, that the nobler races, or truly cultivated men,
even now raise their warning voices, put their small hand
to the mighty work of restoring to nature her strength and
fulness in yet a higher stage than that of wild nature:
one dependent on the law of purpose given by man,
arranged according to plans which are copied from the
development of manhood itself. All this, indeed, remains
at present but a powerless, and for the whole, an insigni-
ficantly small enterprise, but it preserves the faith in the
vocation of man and his power to fulfil it. In future times
he will and must, when he rules, leads, and protects the
whole, free nature from the tyrannous slavery to which he
now abases her, and in which he can only keep her by
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 51

restless giant struggles against the eternally resisting. We
see in the gray cloudy distance of the future a realm of
peace and beauty on the earth and in nature, but to reach
it must man long study in the school of nature, and, before
all, free himself from the bonds of that exclusive selfish-
ness by which he is actuated,’

During a residence of some years at the Cape of Good
Hope, where I held with the Chair of Botany in the South
African College the appointment’ of Colonial Botanist,
I travelled extensively both within the colony and beyond
its limits, and had opportunities of observing effects pro-
duced by the destruction of forests in South Africa, and
of hearing from others, credible witnesses free from pre-
judice, statements of facts observed by them. All that I
saw and heard was in accordance with the statements
quoted.

South Africa has an arid climate, and an arid soil; but
years of drought are occasionally followed by destructive
inundations. The geological formation, the physical
geography, and forest clumps in the interior, tell that it
was otherwise in bygone times. The first mentioned does
so by alluvial and lacustrine deposits; the contour of
the country tells of extensive denudation by aquatic
currents ; and there are in the interior clumps of Adansonia
digitata, and also of other trees, which appear to be the
produce of seeds which germinated when the localities
in which they grow were a little, and only a little, above
the level of adjacent water. I have published some
details in regard to these, and may advert here to the
following circumstances indicative of their bearing upon
the matter in hand. The clumps are generally on rising
grounds, in the middle or oa the sides of what appear to
have been water-basins; the trees in each clump are
apparently of one age, but different clumps are
apparently of different ages, and in some cases those of
greatest altitude above the sea level are of greatest age, an
illustration of which is supplied by Mopane trees, appar-
52 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

ently a species of Bauhinia, in the Shua valley, in the
district of Limpopo. By the deceased Mr James Chapman,
a man careful in his observations, I was informed : ‘The
Mopane trees are small in the lower portion of the Shua
valley’—which is the part which I presume would be
longest under water—‘ but they are larger and stronger
the higher that valley is ascended.’—in proportion, that is,
according to my assumption, as the soil has been longer
free from the covering of water—‘and very much larger
in the vicinity of the river Naté, which comes in a direction
from the:town of Moselekatsi, where they have attained
a considerable magnitude’—which I attribute to that part
having emerged from a waste of waters at a much earlier
period, while waters covered to a considerable depth the
lower-lying lands.
In whatever way and at whatever time forests may have
been produced in South Africa, there are indications that
' the land was at one time much more extensively covered
with forests than it is now; and there is evidence that
forests once existed there which have in some cases been
cleared away and in others greatly reduced in extent. To
South Africa, in the region of Natal, was given by Vasco
de Gama, in 1495, the name of Zerra de Fume, and the
extensive burning of bush, herbage, and grass, the smoke
arising from which procured for it that designation, has
been continued on to the present time, apparently, both
by native tribes and by European colonists, throughout a
period of well-nigh 400 years, and probably from times
long anterior to the time of that discoverer. Not only
have Dr. Moffat, Dr. Cassils, Dr. Livingstone, and others
conjectured, from what may be seen going on in the
present day, that this long-continued practice of burning
off the dry or hard products of vegetation must have had
the effect of destroying many trees, but some of them
have told of stumps and other remains of burnt trees seen
by them; and to these I have referred as indications of
the land having been at one time much more extensively
covered with rorests than it is now. Moffat tells of ‘the
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 53

accidental destruction of whole plains of the Olea, or wild
olive, by fire near Griquatown. There the stumps still
remain, or at least were in existence some years ago, and
I have never heard of their disappearance.’ To these I
refer as evidence that forests once existed where now
there are none. Moffat further testifies in regard to the
Bechuanas, amongst whom he laboured, ‘that they are a
nation of levellers . . . cutting down every species of
timber without regard to scenery or economy. Houses
are chiefly composed of small timber, and their fences of
branches and shrubs. Thus, when they fix on a site for a
town, their first consideration is to be as near a thicket as
possible. The whole is presently levelled, leaving only a
few trees, one on each great man’s fold, to afford shelter
from the heat,and under which the men work and recline,’
There are countries in Europe in which were this done
the forests might be reproduced by self-sown seed, but it
is not so now In any part of Africa which I have visited ;
and Moffat tells that of whole forests where the giraffe
and elephant were wont to seek their daily food nothing
remains. ‘When the natives remove from that district,
which may be after only a few years, the minor species of
the acacia grows, but the acacia giraffea requires an age
to become a tree, and many ages must pass before they
attain the dimensions of their predecessors. In the course
of my journeys I have met with trunks of enormous size,
which if the time were calculated necessary for their
growth, as well as their decay, one may be led to conclude
that they sprung up immediately after the Flood, if not
before it.’

The European colonists have done as the native tribes
did before them, and by burning the grass and by reckless
felling of trees, forests have been reduced in extent, or
altogether cleared away. The mode of exploitation is that
known in France as Jardinage: fora small fee a licence
to cut and bring out of the forest a waggon-load of some
specified timber is given, and the licence-holder helps
himself. Thus forests of the Cape cedar, Widderingtonia
54 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

juniperoides, which gives their name to the Cedar-bergen of
Clanwilliam, the whole of which chain of mountains was
once studded with these trees, have now almost entirely
disappeared. It is only the great extent of the forests of
George of the Kingsna and of Kaffraria which has pre-
vented these forests from yet attaining a like condition.
And a mountain adjacent to Somerset, it has been
reported to me, has been entirely cleared. Bush fires
have aided in bringing about this result. I have seen in
the Colony mountain-sides naked and bare, which some
years before were covered with trees. What I have stated
has been confirmed by many of my correspondents :—

There has been reported to me details of a forest fire on
15th December 1865, which was occasioned by four
natives kindling a fire on the pasture land of Galger
Bosche, and was so extensive that the smoke extended to
and beyond Bedford, a hundred miles distant ; and on the
9th February 1869, there occurred a like fire, which
desolated a tract of country 400 miles long, and varying
‘in breadth from 15 to 150 miles. I have given details in
Hydrology of South Africa, pp. 175-194.

Consequent upon the destruction of forests there has
been extensive desiccation of soil and climate, alternations
of long-continued drought with destructive floods, and indi-
cations that the sequence is that of cause and effect. Dr
Moffat tells of the arid region of his missionary labours,
that in his settlement at Latakoo, the natives were wont
to tell of the floods of ancient times, the incessant showers
which clothed the very rocks with verdure, and the giant
trees and forests which once studded the brows of the
Hamhana hills and neighbouring plains. They boasted of
the Kurruman and other rivers, with their impassable
torrents, in which the hippopotami played, while the lowing
herds walked to their necks in grass, filling their makukus
with milk, making every heart to sing for joy. Now all
that is a thing of the past. I have visited a farm where
it may be said they had had no rain for three years. I
had once to ride eighty-four miles before I could reach a
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 55

fountain where my horses could drink, and on another
occasion I had to send my horses at mid-day six miles off
the road to slake their thirst, while I and my companions
rested. But towards the close of the year in which I left
the Colony (1867) there occurred a flood, the damage
occasioned by which to roads and to house property at
Port Elizabeth alone was estimated at from £25,000 to
£30,000. Within a year thereafter a similar destructive
torrent occurred at Natal, in regard to which it was stated
that the damage to public works alone was estimated at
£50,000, while the loss to private persons was estimated
variously from £50,000 to £100,000. Towards the close
of 1874 still more disastrous effects were produced by
torrential floods ; according to the report given by one of
the Colonial newspapers the damages done could not be
estimated at much less than £300,000. According to the
report given by another, the damage done to public works
alone was estimated at £350,000. In stating that there are
indications that the sequence of these phenomena to the
destruction of forests is the sequence of effect and cause,
I refer not to what has been observed elsewhere, or to what
has been ascertained in regard to the effect of trees in
arresting the flow of the rainfall, but to this :—I have been
informed in many cases on the spot, that the felling of
clumps of trees had been followed within a very short
time by the stoppage of fountains, the flow of which had
previously been perennial; I have myself noticed on the
ascent of a treeless hill, a stream six inches deep the
whole depth of the road within twenty minutes after the
fall of rain had commenced ; and by experiments made on
Wynburg Hill, by Mr Wm. Blore, M.L.A., Fellow of the
Meteorological Society of London, and Secretary of the South
African Meteorological Society, to test some statements J
had made, it was found that the evaporation from a jar sunk
in cleared ground was more than double that from a jar of the
same diameter about 120 feet distant, when it was partially
shaded, but not covered, by a bush: the former being, in
the same time, 1:854 inches, the latter ‘863 inches, gave an
56 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

excess of ‘991 inches. The experiment was repeated with
similar results. By another experiment it was ascer-
tained that while the deposit of dew on a green surface
amounted to 4°75, that on a white surface amounted only
to 2, or less than half the quantity. He further ascer-
tained that while the difference of temperature in the
water in the two jars employed in the former experiment
was only a few degrees, the difference of temperature
between black ground and ground shaded by bush was
about 25 degrees Fahr., which would occasion a vastly
greater difference in the amount of evaporation than that
which occurred in his experiment. In illustration of what
is implied in the result of the experiment made by Mr
Blore, the excess of evaporation from the more exposed jar
above that from the jar partially shaded, but not covered,
being an inch, more strictly, upwards of ninety-nine hun-
dredths of an inch, of water, and more than double that of
the latter, Mr Blore remarks :—‘ An inch in six days (the
time consumed in that experiment) will give for 102 days,
the ordinary duration of the hot, windy, and dry season in
the district, 17 inches. This is equal to about three hun-
dred and eighty-four thousand (384,000) gallons per acre,
and supposing 1000 acres had been burned, blackened, and
dried, what with sunlight, fire, heat, and wind, the evapora-
tion would be an excess of three hundred and eighty-four
millions (384,000,000) of water above what would have
been evaporated if the bush or grass had been left un-
burned.’ And I add, a fortiori, if the forest had not been
destroyed.

Szction C.—F Loops, INUNDATIONS, AND TORRENTS.

It may be more difficult to prove to the satisfaction of
all that devastating inundations which occur from time to
time in countries on the Continent of Europe are conse-
quence of the extensive destruction of forests, than it is to
prove that the scarcity of timber and firewood from which
many has suffered is attributable to that, and that desicca-
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 57

tion and drought follow the destruction of forests; but it
is a point upon which many students of forest science
have no doubt; and on the assumption of its being
a fact established beyond controversy, are based some of
the most important operations of forest economy in several
of the countries of Continental Europe. Of the floods in
question I deem it expedient to give details in greater
number, and to a greater extent than to others less con-
versant with these may seem to be called for, because I
have found in some cases in which a knowledge of the
facts was of great importance in view of interests at stake,

there was a lack of information both in regard to the
magnitude of the evil, and in regard to the connection of
this with the absence of foreals 4 in the basin upon which
the rains fell.

As introductory to the shady of such operations, and to
the study of phenomena upon which they are based, it
may be mentioned that never do we hear of such inunda-
tions originating in densely wooded lands, such as pre-
dominate in the north of Europe, but in treeless mountain
basins or mountain ridges; that the formation of torrents
has followed the denudation of mountains of forests ; that
the extension of extinct torrents has followed the natural
reproduction of the forests destroyed ; that torrents have
been extinguished, and the formation of torrents has been
prevented, by artificial reboisement, and in some cases a
belt of forest stretching acrost a mountain slope, has hada
similar effect.

Sus-SECTION 1.—FRANCE,

In a volume entitled Reboisement in France, many illus-
trations of these several allegations may be found,

In this volume (pp. 328-334) are given, amongst accounts
of other inundations, details of the mundation of the Gar-
rone in 1875, by which, in Toulouse alone, 900 persons, it
was reported, perished, 600 houses in the town and 2000 in
the environs were said to have been swept away ; and the
58 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

phenomena are studied in the light of the facts which
have now been stated.

It is the magnitude of the evil thus occasioned alone which
_ is here brought under consideration. The history of France,

and of other countries on the Continent, embodies accounts
of many such inundations in preceding times, and since
then, from time to time, like inundations have occurred.
The flood of 1875 was the most destructive flood of the
century; but though floods of such magnitude are infre-
quent in the valley of the Garrone, scarcely do twenty
years ever pass without the occurrence of a flood of serious
importance ; and so frequent have they been in the course
of the century that to some it has appeared that the
periodicity involves a cycle of ten years rather than
twenty, as by others had been supposed to be the case.
Such seems to be the cycle for the Loire and the Rhone,
in which floods occurred in 1846, 1856, 1866, and 1876.

SuB-SEcTION 2.—SPAIN.

In October 1879 great desolation was occasioned in
Spain by the Minda and Segura being flooded by a heavy
rainfall, It was such that it awoke an interest, and called
forth sympathy, throughout Europe, and in lartds far
remote.

In the course of the following year the scene of this
disaster was visited by a member of my family, my son-
in-law, Pastor Fliedner, of Madrid, who has given of it the
following account :—

‘Nearly a year has passed since the fearful news of the
floods in Murcia spread throughout Europe and across the
ocean, awaking everywhere sympathy and active help.
It may be of interest to our readers to learn something
of the force and extent of these floods, of the devastation
spread by them, and of the wonderful rescues, and gracious
aid of God, from the very scene of the misfortune, whither

‘a tour of evangelisation led us,
‘If to any region in Spain the words “It was like unto
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 59

the garden of the Lord” are applicable, they are so to
this splendid plain. The diligent hands of the Arabs had
divided the rivers Sangonera and Segura into thousands
of streamlets, and led them throughout the whole valley ;
and wherever under the burning sun of Spain there is an
abundance of water we have almost tropical vegetation
and incredible fertility. In my host’s garden IJ saw stalks
of the sunflower which in two or three months had grown
to a height of from 15 to 20 feet, and which, being as
thick as a man’s arm, served as supports to the vine.
Engrafted shoots reach in the course of a year a height
scarcely attained in the north of Europe in three or four
years. The whole plain is divided like a garden in plots,
which for the most part are devoted to the cultivation of
. garden plants, the principal article of commerce and
source of wealth to the inhabitants. At the same time
olive, orange, lemon, and pomegranate trees are not
wanting. The laurel rises to the height of a tree, and
towering, above all are seen the beautiful crowns of
the elegant palm trees, That one fearful October night
seemed to be destined to destroy all this beauty, and in
many a spot it in reality turned this Paradise into a
desert, covering the most fruitful parts, for years to come,
with sand.
‘ This time it was rather the Sangonera than the Segura
‘ which caused the disaster. It is said to have received its
name from Sangre negra (black blood), at the time when
the Arabs in a bloody and decisive battle destroyed the
hosts of Murcia, and the river, swollen with black blood,
washed the bodies of the slain away to the sea. Water-
spouts and violent showers between two mountain chains
had, within the space of a few hours, turned the plain
into a sea, which, with a hoarse rushing like that of dis-
tant thunder, dashed down into the valley. It was the
night of the 14th October—a night which will not easily
be forgotten by the inhabitants of the plain. Flight was
impossible ; but a few houses, amongst the thousands with
which the plain was studded, resisted the force of the
60 MODERN_FOREST ECONOMY.

waters ; hundreds were swallowed up by the flood, and
through the rushing of the waves were heard the cries of
anguish of the unfortunates who were struggling with
death, or who had been separated by the surging waters.
In furious haste the waters swallowed up the plain, broke
through the railway dam into the village of Alcantarilla,
hurried on to the village of Nonduirmas, which they left
almost entirely in ruins, and dashed onwards towards
Murcia, bearing along with it human beings, animals,
trees, and houses, My host in Alcantarilla showed me from
his balcony the extent of the great flood, more thar a league
in breadth; it reached to the sierra, the mountain chain of
Carrascoy. One would imagine it to be impossible that
such a large plain could be converted so suddenly into a
sea. But when we set out on our journey through the
plain traces of devastation were but too plain. For nearly
a mile the railway dam was thrown down, having torn
down along with it a little house which till then had
resisted the waves. Great masses of sand covered the
once so fertile fields, and of the village, Voy Negra, almost
nothing but ruins was left. Voy Negra means “ black
news,” and is so called because hundreds of years ago the
dwellers in Murcia there heard the sorrowful news of the
defeat of their soldiers by the Arabs. This time the
waters brought even blacker news with the ruins and
dead bodies which they carried in their fatal depths.
What misfortunes, terror, efforts for deliverance, fear, and
death struggles are concealed in the darkness of this
single night! There a family seek salvation on the roof
of a neighbouring house, less exposed than their own to
the fury of the waters ; but whilst the first house remains
standing, the second buries the whole family in its ruins!
Another hut is thrown down ; but whilst the father is
able to save himself, by clinging to a fig tree, his wife and
children are helplessly lost !

‘We.entered a little hut; a hole was burned in the
roof, which, like the most there, consisted of plaited cane
with tiles above; on the three walls which remained
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 61

standing, we could see how high the water had stood—
but a few feet from the roof. In that fearful night a
mother with her two little children, one of them a suck-
ling, was swimming in her bed. The water rose higher
and higher; all hope of escape seemed lost. She tried to
break a hole with her hands in the cane roof in order to
save herself there, but in vain. Then she seized the light
and burnt a hole in the canes, large enough to let her
through. She pushed back the tiles and set her little boy
upon the roof, then she held her baby out with one hand
and helped herself after with the other. Half naked
she sat there with her children on that fearful night,
The house before them became a prey to the waves. One
wall of her house fell too, but the roof held out, and with
the morning the longed for rescue came, through two
brave young fellows from Alcantarilla, who risked their
lives to save her.

*Thank God many a song of valour might be sung;
very many deeds of heroie courage were successfully
done in spite of hindrances and darkness. The excellent
troups of country police, the Guardias civiles, helped with
zeal and abnegation; but they were soon called back to
the little town, because the lower part of it had also fallen
a prey to the waves. There, too, houses and walls fell ;
single individuals were saved, others were buried in the
ruins, or drowned in the waters.

‘But the saddest fate of all was that of the village of
Nonduermas, which lies about half way between Alcan-
tarilla and Murcia. We did not go by the road, but
followed the path which the raging flood had broken for
itself. There every house and every tree tells its own sad
tale, and louder than all do the heaps of ruins scattered
throughout the entire plain proclaim that there once.
diligent people lived in their own huts, and cultivated and
watered the fruitful land. Our guide, Pedro, was himself
one of those who had passed that fearful night outside.
We stopped at one ruin after another and listened to his
account. Here a little girl of five years who had rescued
62 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

herself in the branches of a fig-tree from the falling ruins
of the house had held out the whole night; here the
father, who had spent the night in the house of his absent
master, found in the mornirg but one child remaining,
who had climbed upon a beam for safety. In another
house the father sought safety in a mulberry tree, which
still towers over the ruins in the courtyard; 20 paces off
is the fig tree which saved his children, and at a five
minutes’ walk on the banks of a deep canal, which brings
the waters of the Segura into the plain, is the trembling
reed to which the mother clung, until almost unconscious
she was rescued,

‘The force of the water is beyond all description. Great
heavy millstones were carried away to a distance of many
yards. A noria, one of the heavy ancient water-wheels
which have descended from the times of the Moors, exactly
alike in form to those used in Egypt thousands of years
ago for irrigation, was carried to a distance of fifty feet
without being destroyed. In Pedro’s house the whole
yard was filled with mud, so that he had to dig deep
passages in the earth in order to find his plough. The
mules and donkeys had literally to be dug out of the
sand in which they were half buried in their very stable,
which fortunately lay high. It was half sad half comical
to hear his description of how, as the waters rose, he bored
a hole in the wall so as to be able to reach the hay-loft,
and how his children, and even his corpulent better-half,
clambered up and crept through, for “ nothing is impossible
in such a case of need.” He at least had no death to
lament in his own family, though he had lost a sister-
in-law.

‘Thus we reached Nonduermas. Had this village but
remembered its name, “Sleep not,” better on that fatal
night! But ruin broke in on it like a flash of lightning
with the rushing stream which here broke through the
railway dam for the second time, and threw a large piece
of it down, dashed against the brick houses, and cast one
after another to the earth. The streets of the village are
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 63

nothing but ruins, The water is still standing in large
pools in some places, But a few well built houses
served as places of refuge for those who were able
to make their escape. Out of a population of from
three to four hundred seventy-nine perished that night,
the fourth-part of the whole number of inhabitants.
At present there stands on the open place beside the
church a well built wooden barracks, which serves as a
dwelling place for many of those who remain. The same
committee of aid that built this has built several new stone
houses. Thousands of articles of clothing are being dis-
tributed amongst those who only escaped with their lives ;
and yet, gratefully as all this is acknowledged, the great-
ness of the misery does not seem to have been much
lessened. At least not in the country, for there it is not
enough to give the people money to rebuild their houses ;
a new means of gaining a livelihood must be found for
them until, perhaps after years, they can free their fields,
which formerly sustained them, from the sand under which
they are buried. We can, however, testify that the people
are busily at work ; everywhere they are to be seen digging
away the sand, removing the ruins, and building new
houses—a proof that the charity bestowed upon them is
not wasted.

‘Much has been done in the way of private charity by
the Spaniards. Help from abroad has not been withheld,
and has been gratefully acknowledged; and there are
capable individuals on the committee of help who not
only look to giving momentary help, but also see that by
making new roads and better canals, work is given to those
who have none, and a similiar misfortune be hindered for
the future, Murcia, too, suffered much. The whole of
the southern suburb is destroyed, From many a roof the
unfortunates had to be rescued by ladders ere the whole
house fell in. Along the whole road the traces of the
destructive element are to be seen. It must have been a
sadly grand and imposing sight to see this endless waste
of waters, over which, the palms which grow in great
64 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

numbers in this region alone, raised their crowned heads.
The stream flowed on towards Orihuela, but the inhabi-
tants, warned by the telegraph, could at least all save
their lives; neither was the loss of property so great, as
the force of the stream had lessened, and the masses of
sand, which further up had destroyed the fields for a long
time to come, were farther below inconsiderable. Murcia,
as the capital of the Province, and in a better position,
through its influential relationships with the capital, to
make its requests heard, has been far better attended to
than Alcantilla, and the surrounding plain, although the
latter suffered far more. It was, therefore, doubly pleasant
for me to be able to distribute, through the secretary
of the committee of aid there, the gifts which had
been sent to me for this object, although if more had
been sent we would have had no difficulty in disposing
of them, for the necessity in many families was still very
great,’

I have before me details of several like floods which
have occurred in Europe of late years. Prominent
amongst these is that which devastated an extensive
region in Hungary in 1879, while there was passing
through the press a New Forest Law, enjoining, amongst
other things, the planting of trees as a means of preventing
landslips, torrents, and inundations, and of arresting
drifting sands. Personal Notes by an eye-witness were
published in Blackwood’s Magazine (vol. cxxv., June 1879,
pp. 728-747). And second in magnitude to this was one
was one which devastated extensive districts in Switzer-
land, the Tyrol, and Northern Italy in 1882. Of all I
may say that each had characteristics peculiar to itself,
determined by local circumstances or conditions, but in
this they were similar—they originated in treeless regions ;
and I know of no other similar floods having occurred in
densely wooded lands. The flood of 1879 in Hungary
came through wooded mountain ravines to the plain, but
the origin was beyond, and the floods traversed the forests
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 65

in river beds in which these forests could exercise wpon
them but little influence.

Such floods are not peculiar to the Continent of Europe:
elsewhere, under like conditions, like floods have occurred.

Captain Hall, in his Manual of South African Geography,
says (p. 95)—‘In Great and Little Namaqualand, the
Kalihara Desert, and the whole of the region situated on
the southern slope of the Nieuweveld and Roggeveld
Mountains, whole years may elapse without the pheno-
mena of a running stream, and yet the magnitude of the
dry water-courses of the Buffalo, Hartebeest, and Oup or
Borradaile River, all tributaries of the Orange, show how
immense must: be the torrents that sometimes sweep along
them. The writer of this has seen the bed of the Great
Fish River perfectly dry, and within twenty-four hours ‘a
torrent thirty feet deep and several hundred feet wide was
roaring through it. In February 1848 the Kat River
suddenly rose upwards of fifty feet in the course of a few
hours, sweeping seventeen feet above the roadway of a
stone bridge at Fort Beaufort, supposed to have been built
high enough to leave a clear waterway to the highest flood
ever before remembered. The Gamtoos, Gauritz, and all
the other rivers draining the Karroo,-are also subject to
very sudden rises, although generally but dry water chan-
nels, The periodical rains falling in the mountains near
its sources, between September and March, also swell the
Orange River to a great extent, and large portions of land
along its banks are then inundated,’

In an official report which I made to the Government of
the Colony in 1864, it is stated :—‘ I have seen the Tarka,
the Fish. River, the Keiskamma, and the Buffalo in their
might. I have crossed the bed of the first-mentioned in a
box suspended from a rope stretching from trees on the
opposite banks, while the river torrent was tearing along
helow,twenty-two feet deep, as ascertained by measurement,
where forty-eight hours before the depth was only eighteen
inches.’ I have been told by a gentleman who had given

F
66 : MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

special attention to the subject, of the mean rise of a
number of rivers in the same district being twenty-eight
feet ; I have been told by the same gentleman of a maxi-
mum rise of sixty feet; and I have gone over the scene of
devastation occasioned by the sudden rise of a river to a
height of seventy feet above its usual level.’

_ It was in the basin of the Gamptoos, at Hankey. In
the volume already cited, Reboisement in France (pp. 335-
339), I have given details of the inundation which it
occasioned, and of the consequent destruction of life and
property ; and in the volume entitled Hydrology of South
Africa (pp. 229-247), I have given details of several of the
floods and inundations previously mentioned {ante p. 55].

There are cases on record of great sudden falls of rain,
such as on previous occasions, when the basin of reception
‘was devoid of trees, had given rise to floods of a threaten-
ing and destructive character occurring after that basin
had been replanted, being carried slowly away without
damage or danger to life or property; and a_ broad
girdle of trees on a mountain side has sufficed to arrest the
flow and coalescence of streamlets rushing from the sum-
mit after a heavy rainfall or a sudden thaw.

Of such and such-like phenomena many cases are
embodied in the volume I have cited, Reboisement in
France.

An inundation is simply a flood of such magnitude that
the surface surmounting the banks of the river bed, it
flows over and spreads upon the land beyond. Most
floods may be attributed to heavy and long-continued
rains, or to the melting of great quantities of snow.
Forests both arrest and retard the flow of the rainfall,
and retard the melting of snow, and the flow of the
produce, and thus it is that they prevent inundations.
The inundation in France which we have had under con-
sideration was attributed to the simultaneous occurrence of
continuous heavy rains and a sudden melting of snow on
the mountains, both of them incidents of annual occur-

~
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 67

rence, but at times some days or weeks apart. The best
preventitive of the catastrophe would have been the
reboisement of the mountains ; but the action of the woods
and forests on plains, or what pass as plains, is the same.

In a paper on this subject, read at a meeting of the
Societe d Agriculture de la Haute-Garronne on the 26th
July 1877, by M. De Gorsse, it is stated :—‘ An inundation
may be attributable as a matter of fact to two different
causes ; it may be occasioned by an extraordinary flood of
very short duration, the consequence of a violent storm,
of a long continuance of rain, or of a sudden melting of
snow; or it may be occasioned by the progressive filling
up of a river bed by the deposit of material torn away
from the sides of mountains which are furrowed by them.
These causes may act separately, but most frequently they
are combined. In both cases the duration of the flood is
the decisive co-efficient of the inundation; for supposing
it were protracted, the flow of the same quantity of water
being effected gradually, the overflowing of the banks
would be averted. When a single second suffices for the
delivery of many thousand cubic métres of water can it
be surprising that a gain of some hours for the delivery
may at times save a country from a most dreadful
scourge? It is then evident that all circumstances which
tend to protract the flow diminish the danger, whilst
those which concur to diminish the time of the duration
of the flood aggravate the peril.

‘ Now the action of forests in retarding the flow is very
powerful if a storm or a continuance of rains fall upon a
wooded slope, [and the effect will be esentially the same
on a comparative plain]; a great quantity of the rainfall
will from the first be arrested by the foliage and by the
branches of the trees, which will subsequently restore it
to the atmosphere, or transmit it to the ground, according
as rise of temperature supervening in this air, now satu-
rated with moisture, may permit evaporation to resume
activity, or as the agitation of the air shall determine the
68 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

fall of the drops of rain temporarily retained by the
foliaceous surface of the forests. Of these two masses of
water the first is evidently withdrawn from the contingent
of the inundation; and the second does not reach the
ground until after a detention more or less prolonged, the
effect of which is to prolong the duration of the flood.

‘ The quantity withdrawn by evaporation from the leaves
is undetermined. Many experiments have been made
with varying results, ranging from 15 to 79 per cent., in
the vicinity of Paris.* The conditions under which
different results have been obtained, to which the
differences are attributable, have not been ascertained.
A difference in the kind of tree; in temperature at the
time; in the violence of the storm, are only a few of the
first suggested conditions. The average will probably
be found to be much nearer the lesser number than the
greater: if we suppose it to be 20 per cent., or one-fifth of
the whole rainfall, on a given spot during the continuance
of the rainfall, this would occasion an enormous diminu-
tion of the flood. And such a diminution, in many cases,
might prevent the occurence of an inundation.’

But beyond this there is the prolongation of the flood
occasioned by the retention for a time, more or less pro-
tracted, of the rainfall in the forest soil in so far as this
may be in excess of what would have been the case had
the ground been bare. M. de Gorsse remarks, in continua-
tion of what I bave already cited:—‘As for the water
which falls upon the ground, it immediately divides itself
into three distinct portions, one which is absorbed by the
layer of dead leaves, and by mosses, lichens, and herbs of
all kinds, which carpet the surface of the forest; another
which infiltrates into the ground, in proportion to the
degree of its permeability, to go to be stored up in the
lower reservoirs giving birth to springs; and lastly, the
excess of both, representing the superficial sheet of water,
which, flowing across the thousand obstacles of the forest,

 

* See Suite a L'etude sur les Torrents des Alpes, de M. Cezanne, p. 96.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 69

arrives at the bottom of the valley with a rapidity of flow
which is greatly reduced.

‘Can it be doubted that, as a matter of fact, the trunks
of the trees and shrubs, the clumps of bushes and briars,
the tufts of heaths and brooms, the banks of rocks, and the
incalculable mass of vegetable detritus which covers the
soil of a forest, are so many barriers, against which the
flow comes to break its impetuosity, to lose its force
through sub-division, and to arrest its speed? And ought
not the result of the combined action of this multiplicity
of obstacles be the reduction in the speed of the floods,
which we are desirous to secure,’

The author quotes in support of his views several state-
made by M. Cezanne, and he alleges that in whatever way
it may be effected, there is no doubt as to the result. But
beyond this mechanical action there is another which may
also be called mechanical, but the operation of which is
different, though contributing to the same result. In
regard to this M. Gorsse says:—‘ To this action of the
covering of the ground succeeds that of the soil.

‘The soil of a forest absorbs and retains a quantity of
water much more considerable than other soils. To satisfy
ourselves in regard to this, it is only necessary to consider
what are its constituents, and what is the action of the
different elements of which it is composed.

‘First of all, its surface is covered with a thick layer
of dead leaves, and with a carpet of moss, of lichens, and
of herbage of all kinds, which cevelope rapidly under the
vault of the trees. This covering, so eminently spongy,
gorges itself with moisture, imbibes the water, and per-
forms the function of immense natural reservoirs, from
which subsequently. the vegetables pump up the aliment
of their transpiration, and springs draw their supply, a
double guarantee for a more regular delivery. This isthe
principal cause of the coolness and humidity under the
shade of trees, which is so persistent for a long time after
the cessation of the rain. There is not a peasant, a hunts-
man, or a tourist, who has not had experience of the fact,
% MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

suffering in a severe cold the penalty of an imprudent
fancy for a walk in a forest on the day following a storm,
And as for foresters, the repeated rheumatisms to which,
alas! they are doomed, do not they present every day,
even to the most sceptical, a demonstration cruelly
eloquent ?

‘Under the influence of atmospheric agents this enor-
mous mass of vegetable detritus is decomposed rapidly to
form a bed of detritus and humus* which attains some-
times an enormous thickness under the mantle of dead
leaves; and it may be imagined that the soil of forests
must. be infinitely richer in this vegetable constituent
than is all other agricultural soil by reason of the quantity
of the vegetable matter with which it is strewn, and which
rots there, being so considerable. Now it results from
researches by. Schuebler, reported and prosecuted by
Boussingalt, to determine the physical properties of
different kinds of earth, that humus is the substance
which, of all others, manifests the greatest avidity for
moisture. It is by no trifling difference that humus dis-
tinguishes itself in this respect from the other earths which
were made the subject of experiment. For its absorbent
power is about eight times that of sand, from two to six
times that of different kinds of calcareous earths, and
from two and a half to five times that of the different
argilaceous earths.t It may be imagined, then, what an
important part in regard to inundations must be played
by soil possessing so developed a hydroscopic property. It
never happens that in any storm, whatever may be its
intensity, the layer of humus imbibes the water to such
an extent as to be completely saturated, or that the
rainfall forms currents on the surface of a well-wooded
soil. One may say then thata forest may easily drink in
the whole of the water produced by a most violent

 

* The earth in the upper portion of the vegetable soil proceeds from the more or less
advanced decomposition of the organic detritus of plants. The humus constitutes the
more soluble and assimilable portion of this vegetable soil.

+ Boussingalt, Economie Rurale considérée dans ses Rapports avec la Chimie, la
Phisique, et la Météorologie, 2 Edit. T. i, p. 600, &c.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 771

storm; and we may assume the occurrence of a succes-
sion of very long continued rains to be necessary to
accomplish the complete saturation of the bed of humus.
Be this as it may, in any case the flowing sheet of water
on the surface of the ground is diminished by an immense
body of water absorbed and retained by the soil of the
forest; and the unnumbered difficulties which it en-
counters in flowing over the surface, come to complete
the first beneficial effect ot the forest.*
‘Under the humus we come upon vegetable soil pro-
ceeding from the disintegration of the rocks, under the
combined action of water andthe atmosphere. We cannot
enter here on the consideration of the mechanical opera-
tions and chemical actions which occasion and expedite
this destruction of the rocks, but we may look at the
influence of the physical properties exercised by the vege-
table soil of the forests. This matter has been treated
thoroughly by M. Marchand, Sub-Inspector of Forests, in
the first chapter of his interesting study, Sur les Torrents
des Alps. The experiments of Thurmann which he reports
show that the absorption of water by earth is proportional
to their condition of sub-division, and as the roots of trees
have evidently the effect of breaking up by division ad
infinitum, and in every way, the layers which they traverse,
it naturally follows that the vegetable soil of forests is
eminently hydroscopic. But in addition to the augmented
hydroscopicity imparted to the vegetable soil by the
ultimate ramification of ligneous roots; this endows it in
sub-dividing it with a considerable permeability. This
latter property is one which must not be confounded with
the former, as the ene is the faculty of absorbing and
retaining water, while the other is the faculty of allowing
it to infiltrate and pass beyond itself, or be retained in

 

* The following statement by M. Cezanne may give some idea of the importance of
this power of absorption :—‘ The earth of forests with a density equal to 1°225 retains
1:99 of its weight of water (Gasparin) ; it follows that if there be a layer of 10 centi-
metres—4 inches—of earth saturated and swollen by moisture, it might retain a rain-
sheet of 24 centimetres, or half of the rain which falls in a year in Paris.’—Suite a
L' Etude sur les Torrents des Haute Alps. 2 Ed. T. ii. p. 177.
% MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

grosser pores; and this evidently plays an additional and
important part, as it diminishes the flowing sheet of water
which is making for the river by the volume of water
infiltrating through the ground. And, furthermore, this .
permeability is communicated by means of the roots to
the sub-soil—that is to say, the layer upon which the
vegetable soil rests. Let one then imagine what an
immense quantity of water comes to be engulfed in
these canals, a veritable drainage by innumerable ramifi-
cations,

‘A very considerable diminution of the volume of a
flood is a consequence resulting from the diversified action
of the mode and power of the operations which have been
thus brought under consideration. This has been brought
prominently forward by the hydrologic experiments of
MM. Jeandel, Cantegril, and Belland, Gardes Generaux
des Foréts, who made it the subject of a Memoir addressed
to the Academy of Sciences in 1861. Their observations
were made in two basins of the Meurthe, which were
absolutely different in regard to the superficial condition
of the ground. And they have proved that the co-efficient
of superficial flow and the co-efficient of inundating action
are at least twice as great in the basin devoid of wood as
they are in the wooded basin ; or, in terms more generally
intelligible, that forests reduce by at least one half the
chances of inundations. We cannot, without overstepping
the limits of the restricted outline which we have laid

‘down, enter here into an examination of the criticisms,
sometimes bitter and often unjust, which have been made
upon this remarkable and conscientious work, and of the
replies made in defence of it. Let us only say that the
authors of the Memoir have at least a right to claim that
they have formulated general laws which render an account
of the observations collected by them in the circumstances
in which they found themselves placed. That, if they had
been placed in circumstances different from these, they
might have obtained results and numbers somewhat dif-
ferent, is possible. But that the import of these results
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 73

would have been different is altogether inadmissable, for
their conclusions are the entirely natural consequence of
the phenomena which would have been produced in the
order which we have established, and which appear to us.
to be indisputable.

‘The most disastrous inundations are those which pro-
ceed from.the sudden melting of snow, in consequence of
the volume and the instantaneous character of the flood
which may be thus produced, Without wishing to attri-
bute to this cause alone the cataclysm of 1875, which was
beyond doubt produced by the coincidence of most formid-
able meteorological phenomena, we consider that this
must have exercised a very decided influence on the
deplorable result. The danger arising from this complica-
tion was so great that General de Nansouty, whose
devotedness everybody in the Pyrenees acknowledges and
admires,* observing the mass of snow which fell on the
21st June, its slight consistency, the elevation of tempera-
ture, and the direction of the storm. clouds, understood at
once the imminence of a sudden and fearful irruption of
water into the valley of the Adour. His assistant, by
heroic devotion, braved the tempest, descended to Campan,
and giving timely notice to the Mayor and inhabitants,
was enabled to save or spare the valley a portion of the
disaster with which it was threatened.

‘No doubt, then, this sudden melting of the snow was
one of the determining causes of the catastrophe of 1875.
Now forests exercise a direct influence on the melting of
snow ; they retard it, Who has not observed that snow
remains under forest masses many days after the bare
slopes surrounding them have been completely divested ?
By protecting the soil against the heat of the sun’s rays,

 

* General de Nansouty was Director of the Observatory of La Plantade, established
on the peak of the Midi de Bigorre. He was enabled to announce fifteen hours in
advance the terrible inundation which was about to ravage the basins of the Garonne
and the Adour.—Notes accompanying the Report of M. Alicot on the draft of a Law
relative to the Reboisement of the Mountains, passed in 1877 by the Chamber of
Deputies.
74 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

and by sheltering it from the blasts of south wind which
bring to Europea portion of the burning heat of the sands
of the desert, the covert of trees destroys two causes which,
_Singly or conjointly, bring on the sudden debacles of
spring. Under their nave of verdure the melting of snow
goes on always insensibly and gradually, never suddenly
and in a mass.

‘We read in areport addressed by M. Fare, Director-
General of Forests, to the Minister of Finance, relative to
the nature and utility of the new law on the rebotsement
of the mountains, presented to Parliament in 1877 :—

‘“ Being very elevated, the Alps extend very often into
regions of long-continued and long-lying snows. They
receive the snows over an extensive area, they preserve
them for a long time, and thus they accumulate there the
more. On the return of spring the sun, by reason of the
latitude it has attained, has then great power. Often there
supervene burning winds from the south which expedite
still further the effect of the direct rays of the sun. The
result is that the melting of the snow, instead of going on
gradually, is effected all at once, in two days the flood
has passed on and the debacle is terminated.”

‘What is affirmed of the Alps may be applied with a
slight deduction to all mountainous countries, and one
can well imagine that on slopes divested of trees, rain and
snow storms, encountering no moderators of their action
and their violence in the natural screens and shelters of
woods, must be followed by fusions, sudden and of an abun-
dance proportionate to the areas of these immense
reservoirs. But the beneficent roll of forests is not limited
to the protection which they afford to the portions of the
basins which they cover. Discharging the duty of gigantic
and multiplied barrages,they oppose also their innumerable
obstacles to the flow of the inundating sheet proceeding
from the sudden debacles in the pasturages and glaciers
with which they are crowned.’

Additional information in regard to the immediate and
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 1

the secondary effects of trees in arresting the flow and
escape of the rainfall, and thus equalising to some extent
the flow of rivers, is embodied in a volume entitled
Forests and Moisture; or Effects of Forests on Humidity
of Climate, pp. 212-254.

Besides citing this, let me add that in a paper in the
Revue des Eaux et Forets, for April 1866, there are given
the following striking illustration of the effect of woods on
torrents :—‘ The State possesses, in the department of Van-
cluse (writes the forest conservator, Labuissiére), a forest
of more than 3000 hectares, situated on the portion of the
mountain Luberon, nearest to the valley of the Durance.
This region is very much cut up, and traversed in all
directions by very narrow and deeply embanked ravines
in the midst of masses more or less dense of Aleppo pines
and green oaks.

‘These ravines are almost the only outlets for the trans-
port of wood, in consequence of the difficulties which would
be encountered, and the expense which would be incurred,
in making more practicable ones on the rapid declivities,
strewn with enormous masses of rock. There exists one
so situated, called the Ravine de Saint-Phalez. The
direction is from north to south, in the midst of a mass
of Aleppo pines in a state of growth more or less compact.

‘Its length, and for four kilométres, or from the road
from Cavaillon to Pertuis, to the domain of Saint-Phalez,
of an area of about 50 hectares, forms the bassin de récep-
tion of the torrent. ;

‘This land is well cultivated ; there are no declivities
too steep for cultivation ; it comprises vineyards, meadows,
and arable land ; the soil is argillaceous.

‘The ravine of Saint-Phalez receives many affluents,
the most important of which is that of the Combe d’Yeuse,
which joins it near the summit, where are some hundred
métres of the cultivated grounds of which I have spoken,

‘The ravine de la Combe d’Yeuse is of much less con-
siderable length than that of Saint-Phalez ; it is scarcely
76 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

two kilométres. It is strongly embanked, surmounted
by steep declivities, covered with green oaks of eight or
ten years’ growth, and with Aleppo pines of different ages.
Its bassin de réception, of about 250 hectares, or 113 acres, ©
comprises the a slope, precipitately inclined, with a
general south-west aspect; it is closed at the top bya
deep bed of rock cut into peaks of the most imposing
aspect,

‘The geological formation in both is absolutely the
same, as are all the other conditions, at all the points
which I have examined. In no part is to be seen either
spring or appearance of humidity; no water is seen
excepting at the time of the storms or great rains, and
this water soon passes away, with the differences which
will afterwards be mentioned. At all other times these
ravines are of a désolating aridity.

‘In the night of the 2nd and 3rd September 1864
there fell a rather abundant rain over all this portion of
the mountain. In the morning the argillaceous grounds
of Saint-Phalez were saturated, of which evidence was
found by any one attempting to cross them. The ravine
of Saint-Phalez, the receptable of the surplus water, had
flowed but slightly ; that of the Combe d’Yeuse remained
dry.

Tithe day of the 4th September was very warm; a
water-spout borne along by a south-west wind struck ou
the Luberon. Its passage did not last more than forty
minutes; but scarcely had it come when the torrent of
Saint-Phalez became awful. Its maximum deliverance was
about two cubic métres. It did not flow more than fifty
minutes; but with an avérage delivery of half a cubic
métre ; it had then passed in all 15,000 métres of water.
Its height had been 0°04 m.; each square metre had
received 40 litres, and the 50 hectares of Saint-Phalez
20,000 cubic métres. The ground had only retained 5000,
which is sufficiently explained by their argillaceous
character and their state of saturation the night before.
While the torrent of Saint-Phaléz flowed, filled from bank
EVILS FOLLUWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 77

to bank, seizing and carrying off rocks which had been
employed to form a road which was believed to be safe
against all contingencies, that of the Combe d’Yeuse and
_all those traversing wooded lands remained dry, or gave
only an insignificant quantity of water.

‘On the slope opposite to that of which I have been
speaking, in the valley of the Peyne, a carriage-road newly
formed did not experience the least injury throughout the

_ whole of the portion of it passing through the forest of the
domain; but at its issue, on the lands of the Libaude and
of the Roquette, it had been, so to say, destroyed. ,A cart
loaded with faggots was upset and smashed by the waters,
which flowed from all the cultivated slopes, aud tore along,
with the noise of thunder, at the bottom of the ravine.

‘My good fortune secured to me another subject of study
on the same ground.

‘On the 25th of October following I went to the sale of
the fellings.of the Tarascon, where there fell an abundant
rain, ‘he next day (the 26th) the weather was clouded.
I set off for the Luberon in the hope of arriving there at
the same time as would a storm of tain, which I saw
approaching. JI arrived first; the ravine of Saint-Phalez
was still moist, from the passage in small quantity of the
waters of the night before; they had served, as appeared,
to saturate the lands of the domain; as had previously
happened on the 7th [8rd ?] September. ,

‘T had scarcely gone over two kilométres in the ravine
when the water began to rush with great violence; ten
minutes later it precipitated itself in its ordinary canal
decoulement, completing the work of destruction begun in
the month of September. The lands of Saint-Phalez
had absorbed but little or none of the water that day.

‘The storm was not of long duration—an hour at most.
The time was unfavourable for collecting on the ground
exact measurements, but I reckon that the torrent
delivered, at its maximum, somewhat less water, perhaps,
than on the 4th of September. The flood, however, was
78 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

more frightful ; it swept away rocks with so much the
greater ease that nothing had been repaired since the
_ first storm, which had left the stones dug out, and without
bond of cohesion among themselves.

‘To gain the forester’s house, which was on the slope of
the left bank, it was necessary to make a long circuit—to
go round the domain of Saint-Phalez, and to cross the
grounds belonging to it, in which one sank to the depth
of 0°30 métres, or 12 inches. Before arriving at my home,
I had still before me the ravine of the Combe d’Yeuse, and
I feared I should be stopped there by a new obstacle. I
was agreeably surprised to find it dry. An hour after the
storm the ravine of Saint-Phalez had ceased to flow.

‘It rained throughout the whole of the 28th, without
there being anything to remark similar to what had hap-
~ pened on the preceding days. The only effect of this was
that on the evening of the 30th, near the forester’s house,
and at 200 or 300 métres from the ravine of Saint-Phalez,
there was seen going down, in that of Yeuse, a small fillet
of clear water; its volume increased perceptibly during
the three days, to diminish in like manner during the two
which followed ; its passage broke down a little of the
footpath which goes along the valley, but caused only a
damage easily repaired. But this footpath presented
nothing of the solidity of structure of that of the Combe
de Saint-Phalez, built on enormous blocks of rocks which
had stood for several years, and which had allowed of
passage with a waggon some days before its destruction by
the storm in September. If the Combe-d’Yeuse had
yielded as much water as that of Phalez, and if these two
masses of water had come at the same time, the damage
caused in the plain must have been considerable, and the
Durance, which received these waters, would have been so
much the larger.

‘Thus we have two torrents very néar and under the
same conditions—except that the basin drained by the one
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 79

comprises 50 hectares of cultivated lands, that of the other
250 hectares of woodlands. The first receives, and allows
to flow away, the waters of the greater part of a storm in
a few hours at most, causing thereby considerable damage ;
the second, which had received a greater quantity of rain,
stores it—keeps it for two days—evidently retaining a
portion of it, and takes three or four days to yield up the
surplus, which it does in the form of a limpid and inoffen-
sive stream,’

M. Jules Clavé, writing on the effects of forests in
increasing humidity of soil, says :—‘ When Napoleon was
taken to Saint Helena, writes M. Blanqui, ‘ the English felt
the necessity of occupying Acension Island, which was
then only a barren rock, scarcely covered with a few
cryptogamic plants, and there they stationed a company of
a hundred men. At the end of ten years this little garri-
son had been enabled, by dint of perseverance and planta-
tions, to create a soil on the island, and from this to draw
some water. It was abundantly planted with vegetables,
Such was the result of plantation upon a rock in mid-
ocean !

‘But why should we seek so far away for the proofs of
phenomena that are renewed daily under our eyes, and of
which any Parisian may convince himself without ventur-
ing beyond the Bois de Boulogne or the forest of Meudon ?
Let him walk out, after some days of rain, along the
Chevreuse road, bordered on the right by the forest of
Meudon and on the left by cultivated fields. The amount
of rain that has fallen is the same on both sides, and yet
the ditches by the roadside along the edge of the forest
will be still filled with water, proving the infiltration going
on from the wooded soil, while already for some time those
on the other side, adjoining the cleared fields will have
been dry, after having served their purpose by a sudden
flow. The ditch on the left will have emptied itself in a
few hours of all the water, which the one on the right will
take some days to convey to the bottom of the valley.’
80 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

In accordance with this it is mentioned by Mahé :—‘ In
France, in the Montagne-Noire, experiments have been
made in two different valleys, the one wooded, and the
other denuded of wood; and it has been ascertained that
the first gives off immediately after rain less water than
the second, but on the other hand this becomes rapidly
dried up, while the former feeds the stream throughout
the entire year. And it has been observed that while in
denuded regions the heaviest rains fall in the summer, in
wooded districts they fall in the autumn and winter —that
is to say, during the season in which, according to Belgrand,
they contribute most to feed the water-courses. These
observations, made by Maistre in Aude, are of indisputable
explicitness in their teaching; the results show so evidently
that the aridity of a country goes on increasing with the
clearing away of woods, and that the water-courses which
formerly gave movement to mills have to-day no longer
sufficient water to do so.

‘Cauvigril has in like manner observed that a stream,
that of Cauman, which takes its rise in a forest district
belonging to that same forest of the Montaigne-Noire,
formerly gave movement to fulling mills, but after the
clearing away of the forest the flow became so irregular
that the mills had to stand still through part of the year.
The commune, however, having recently replanted the
forest, the Cauman has resumed its former régime, and the
works go on now without interruption.’

I have had occasion elsewhere to state that the Alpine
torrents are traced by Surell to two sources—the melting
of snow about the beginning of June, and storms of rain
occurring about the end of summer. The inundations in
the Garonne valley was occasioned by similar causes, but by
these operating simultaneously, and this in the Cevennes
and in the Pyrenees at the same time. In accordance
with what has now been stated, when a basin drained by a
river is covered by vegetation the flow of the water is
retarded, diffused, and protracted; but when mountains
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 8h

upon which the rain falls are devoid of vegetation, the
rain rushes off as does water on the roof of a house—and
thus was it here.

The Journal des Debats thus explains the phenomena of
these inundations :— <

‘It is the chain of the Cevennes which causes these
immense disorders. Between the sources of the Loire
and the Hérault the Cevennes are 3,700 feet high. All
this surface is composed of granite impermeable to the
rains. ‘he river waters rush over this ground with
immense rapidity, but do not enter it. The chief streams
rising there are the Dour, the Ervieux, the Ardéche, and
the Gardon, affluents of the Rhéne; on the west, the Lot
and the Tarn, affluents of the Garonne; on the north, the
Loire and its tributary the Allier; on the south, the
Hérault. The Ardéche, whose basin is only 2,492 kilo-
métres, has enormous rises. At the bridge d’Arc the
stream rises to nineteen métres above the lowest level,
and pours down at a rate of 7000 cubic métres per second,
almost as much as the Loire at Tours. An equal violence
is registered in the Dour, the Ervieux, the Gardon, the
Isére, the Dréme, and the Durance. Since everything
depends on the rainfall, it is obviously impossible to
calculate with certainty beforehand. Every year the
Cevennes cause vast “spates” in the largest rivers in
France-—the Rhone, the Loire, and the Garonne. All the
streams of the regions are torrents. The southern part of
the Cevennes, the Black Mountain, and the Corbiéres
exercise a great influence on the small Mediterranean
streams between the Rhéne and the Pyrenees. A rain of
200 millimétres, which has no perceptible effect elsewhere,
causes in these parts a sudden flood.’

In general the rains fall there in May, and being then
comparatively cool, they melt but little of the snow, and
flow away as they fall. But when they fall in June, as
this year they did, they are somewhat tepid, and falling
upon the snow, melt it rapidly, and the watery produce is
added to the rainfall; thus two sources of flood are com-

G
82 ° MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

bined, and disastrous consequences not unfrequently follow.
And thus, as has been stated, was the late flood produced.
Persistent rains from the north-west fell upon the Cevennes
and the northern slope of the Pyrenees. This was pre-
ceded there in some cases bya heavy fall of snow ; and
there was over all the higher-lying lands the snow which
had fallen in the course of the winter. This snow was
dissolved ; all the tributaries of the Garonne were flooded
simultaneously ; and we see the result.

In such a case time is everything. It may make all the
difference between the loss of life and property, and perfect
safety to both, if a body of water, such as was here precipi-
tated from the mountains, shall rush past a given point in
four days or take fourteen for its flow—flowing in flood, but
never rising above the height of the containing banks.
And it may make avery great difference, though not so
great, if a flood and inundation come suddenly in the
night, without notice or warning, and if it come after
twelve or twenty-four hours’ notice of its coming.

Thus is it with floods in the Seine and in the Loire,
Warning is given by telegraph all along the course of
these rivers that a flood is on its way, and the inhabitants
on their banks are prepared when it comes; and thus, as
has been stated, the inhabitants of Orihuela, in Spain,
were enabled to betake themselves to a place’ of safety
before the flood of the Sangonera reached their town.

But this could not be done in the case of this inun-
dation, There is an observatory at Pic-du-Midi, a spur
of the Pyrenees, and it seems that General de Nansouty,
who commands there, would have been able to give timely
warning of the coming inundation had the observatory been
in telegraphic communication with the threatened towns
and villages,—at all events along the course of the Adour.
He did, as we have seen, warn the people in the valley of
Campan of what was to be expected from a heavy fall of
snow in the mountains, which snow had suddenly com-
menced to melt under the influence of the rain and
' westerly wind: on the first appearance of danger, on
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 83

the night of the 22nd June, M. Beylac descended the
mountain during the most fearful weather to spread the
alurm; but the floods in all the tributaries of the Garonne
were so sudden that to give extensive warning was impos-
sible. Had the bassins de reception of all these streams
been wooded it would have been otherwise, but they were
‘to a great extent devoid of vegetation.

Very different had been the result had like warning been
given along the course of the Garonne of the coming
flood from one to twelve or twenty-four hours before it
reached the different towns and villages destroyed ; and
very different had been the case had the waters which
swept along in a torrential wave taken fourteen days to
flow past any and every point on its course! It may be,
that never would it have risen so high as to imperil a
single house, and that in consequence of the timely
warning given not one life would have been lost! It is
said by a writer 1 have quoted,— If this observatory [that
on the Pic-du-Midi], now isolated on the peak, were bound
to the plain by telegraph, the General might transmit to
the officials of the Ponts et Chaussées previsions of the
last importance, In the same manner a station should be
made on the Corbiéres. As soon as the quantity of rain
falling on these cliffs became dangerous the authorities
would be warned.’—Yes ; but this, if combined with a com-
plete reboisement and gazonnement of the mountains, would
give them longer time to prepare for what was coming. And
it may be asked, Why has this not been done? An answer
is forthcoming, and that not the answer which might be
expected, that, as has been stated, ‘Between the sources
of the Loire and the Hérault the Cevennes are 3,700 feet
high. All this surface is composed of granite, imperme-
able to the rain, and to plant such either with herbage or
with trees is impossible;’ but the answer, that the work
is being done as fast as money and men and material can
be found, and that already, previous to this inundation, all
that could be done up to that time had been accomplished.
It is often easy to tell, after an event has occurred, how it
84 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

might have been prevented ; and it may be that had these
inundations been foreseen, operations which would have
to some extent modified or prevented them would have
been prosecuted with the vigour called forth by a race
against time, in preference to some others which have not
been ineffective, but the execution of which might without
series consequences have been postponed; or, at all
hazards, grants on a scale of magnitude equalling or
exceeding those made previous to the war would have
been made, and the difference between these and the
amounts actually granted spent exclusively on the
valleys and basins of reception drained by the upper
waters and affluents of the rivers by which such devasta-
tion has been wrought. The legitimate use now to be
made of such reasonings is, to prepare for the future in
accordance with the suggestions suggested by the past.
And this, I have no doubt, will be done.

Section D.—ToRRENTS, AVALANCHES, AND LANDSLIPS.

In connection with what bas been said of floods and
inundations, mention has been made incidentally of land-
slips, and torrents, and alluvial deposits, which are also
attributable to the clearing away of forests. In proceeding
to supply details in regard to these, I deem it proper to
premise that it is not alleged that all such accidents are
attributable to this cause; all that can be shown is that
some such have been thus occasioned.

In the language of our countrymen the designation
torrent is applied to the rushing body of water in a river
bed, in contradistinction to the inundation of the lands
beyond in such a form as has been referred to in the pre-
ceding chapter. But the term is applied in France to
another phenomenon, and in lack of an English term of
corresponding import to this, I 30 apply it here, namely, to
the mountain bed of the waters, along which they escape
from the basin of reception, rushing to the lower lying lands
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 85

on the plain, often undermining the confining banks on the
right hand and on the left, bringing down the overhanging
masses, and sweeping along the débris and covering fertile
lands many feet deep—it may be fathoms deep—with stones,
and clay,.and rubbish, which no appliances of man can
remove, and which doom the land to sterility in all coming
time—the disturbances of the angle of stability affecting
the ground at a level far above that of the torrent,
and sometimes occasioning landslips of the most serious
importance,

_ There may not at first sight appear any connection
between the destruction of forests and the occurrence of
such phenomena, and yet, as a sand-drift has been known
to originate in the uprooting of a bush, miniature torrents
have been known to originate in the displacement of a
stone half-buried on a mountain side. And by Surrell it
has been demonstrated that all the torrents ou the Alps
—and the Alps are in many places scarred with these—are
attributable to the destruction of forests on the mountains.
The demonstration is of a most conclusive character—
showing that such has been the case in times past; that
such is the case still; that former torrents have become
extinct through the spread of arborescent vegetation over
the basin of reception; and that the artificial planting of
trees, or bushes, or herbage, on appropriate sites, has
extinguished torrents which immediately before were in
full play.

Many of the phenomena accompanying the creation of
these torrents are most remarkable, including stones torn
from their beds, propelled above and beyond the rushing
water, and advancing through the air in front of the wall-
like front of the mountain. wave.* But what is of more
economic importance is the value of the property, lands,
orchards, and houses undermined and carried away ; and

 

* Reboisement in France, &c, (p. 117).
86 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the extent of fertile land lost irretrievably by being covered
up with the débris. And what chiefly concerns our pre-
sent argument is the connection of forest destruction with
these, as the cause or occasion of the evils occurrent.

In the localities affected the consequences are only
second, if indeed they be second, to the consequences of
floods and inundations on the lower lying plains. The
area of land immediately affected may be smaller; but
the loss is absolute and permanent. The proofs, or indi-
cations, of these having been in many cases occasioned by
the destruction of forests, and being in all, attributable to
the treeless condition of the ground upon which the rain
had fallen, are such as I have stated.

It is to M. Aléxandre Surell, Ingenieur des ponts et chaus-
sées, now Director of the Chemin de Fer du Midi, that we are
indebted for the discovery, study, and exposition of the
phenomena in question. He has been followed by the late
Ernest Cézanne, Ingenieur des ponts et chausées,and Repre-
sentative of the High Alps in the National Assembly, and
by others, The volumes cited being charged hard with
details of facts, and their reasonings upon them, I consider
it unnecessary to refer further to this. Since that volume
was published, voluminous reports of works of reboisement
in the mountains of France, with a view to arrest and
prevent such evils, which have been executed, have been
issued by the Government; and similar works have been
executed elsewhere, as in Switzerland and in Spain. But
I content myself with citing the following testimony,
which corresponds fully with many occurring in the
volume to which I have referred,

M. Hérecart de Thary, in his Potamographie des Haute-
Alps, writes :—

‘In this magnificent basin (that of Embrun) nature has
done everything with prodigality. The inhabitants have
blindly enjoyed these favours: they have slept in the
midst of these gifts. Wretches that they are, they have
inconsiderately carried axe and fire into the forests, which
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 87

shaded and protected the precipitous mountains, the
unknown source of their riches. In a short space of time
the naked meadows have been ravaged by the waters:
torrents have swollen up: they have precipitated them-
selves with fury upon the plains: they have cut away,
torn down, and undermined their bases. Extensive lands
have been carried away ; others have been buried up with
the débris ; these have been covered with rocks, or they
present now to the eye only sterile gravel. The ravages
are going on still; and ere long these torrents will have
annihilated this beautiful basin, which lately might have
been compared advantageously with the richest countries
possessed of what is most fertile and is best cultivated,

Numerous details—I had almost said innumerable
details—of phenomena like to those mentioned are given
in a volume entitled Rebotsement in France ; or, Records of
the Replanting of the Alps, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees,
with trees, herbage, and bush, with a view to arresting
and preventing the destructive consequences of torrents,
in which are given a résume of Surell’s study of Alpine
torrents, of the literature of France relative to Alpine tor-
rents, and of remedial measures which have been proposed
for adoption to prevent the disastrous consequences fol-
lowing from them,—translations of documents and enact-
ments, showing what legislative and executive measured
have been taken by the Government of France in connec-
tion with redoisement as a remedial application against
destructive torrents,—and details in regard to the past,
present, and prospective aspects of the work.

In regard to the effect of forests in preventing the
occurrence of avalanches, M. de Gorsse writes in a paper
read before a meeting of the Agricultural Society of the
High Alps, on the 2nd July 1879, relative to the influence
of forests on inundations, which has already been cited :—

‘ All know the cause of the avalanche and the action
which it takes; in spring, under the heat of the solar rays,
88 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

or under the breath of the warm south winds, the upper
layer of the field of snow begins to melt. The water thus
produced sinks by infiltration to the ground, warms it, thaws
it, and detaches thus the lower bed of ice which was
intimately bound with it. From the time that the equili-
brium is disturbed at this point the snow mass sinks down,
and slides under the action of its weight. The shock
propagates itself to surrounding masses, the impulsive
force extends to the inferior fields of snow. And the
avalanche, enlarged by the enormous mass of earth and
rocks which it tears from the sides of the mountain,
precipitates itself to the foot of the valley amongst
rumbling sounds—sounds and claps resembling those of
oes scattering in its passage ruin, desolation, and
death.

‘There suffice often in the season of debacles the
slightest rise of temperature, the least change of weather,
or the vibrations communicated to the atmosphere by a
rifle-shot, to determine the setting off of an avalanche.
Sometimes, on the other hand, the least change in slope,
‘or a slight elevation in the ground, suffices to arrest a
sliding snow mass, or to alter its direction. A forest,
especially if it be situated at but a short distance from the
point where an avalanche originates, acts in this way.
But if the commencement of the avalanche be at too
great an elevation above the wood, the impulsive force
may have become too great, and the acquired speed too
giddying for the obstacle to resist it ; and then the forest
may be violently swept off and hurried along by these
impetuous torrents of snow, or be crushed under their
mass. Thus it is not so much in stopping the sliding down of
the avalanches, when once the movement has commenced,
as in preventing the formation and setting out of these
that woods and masses are so eminently useful. Every
bush in a forest, every trunk of a tree, or stem of a shrub,
by creating a division in the field of snow at the first,
diminishes the mass, and the weight of the avalanche,
which is the primary aad essential condition of its slipping.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 89

And these present moreover at the same time so much
resistence to be overcome, and are so much support given
to the maintenance of the equilibrium of stability ; acting
in the same manner as do sustaining piles, which are
sometimes fixed in slopes, which are too mobile and too
steep, in order to prevent landslips; and thus do these
numberless firmly rooted trunks retain the snowfields on
all surfaces covered with them. Such is the mechanical
action of the forest of piles devised by the genius of
Gaubert to protect the military hospital of Bareges
against the avalanches by which it is threatened. And
without more than a moments pause we may tell that
these piles employed as expedients designed to meet the
requirements of the moment, have been followed by
efficient reboisements, and the construction of barrages,
which have produced the happiest zesults,

‘The protective efficiency of forests has been put pro-
minently forward by all authors who have written on the
subject. In their interesting work, entitled Les Glaciers,
MM. Zurcher and Margolle remark (p. 192) :—* The village
of the St. Gothard owes its preservation to a small forest
‘of fir-trees situated on the brow of the mountain which
dominates it, and thus this forest has become for the
inhabitants an object of the greatest care. They have
surrounded it with a hedge to prevent the access of cattle,
and very severe penalties have been decreed for men who
may be guilty of the least damage to these sacred trees.”

‘The same fact is mentioned by Viollet-le-Duc in his
Etude du Massif du Mont Blane.

‘M. Philippe Breton, engineer-in-chief of roads and
bridges, charged with the special service of the Etudes des
Torrents des Alpes, after having cited an example of the
influence of forests on the extinction of avalanches in the
basin of La Romanche, adds:—“ This example proves,
then, two things: (1) In certain localities the effect of a
good forest system may suppress, or at least greatly reduce,
the damage done by avalanches, and this simple reduction
may suffice to avert grievous consequences; (2) we find
90 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

in mountains with great wooded slopes, below these the
fields and dwellings enjoy a certain security, thanks to the
existence of the forest; but if this forest come to be
ravaged, avalanches immediately make their appearance,
and carry destruction to the lower lying properties. It
would be easy to give the names of more than one hamlet
in the mountains which is thus protected by a forest, the
inhabitants of which have no idea that their existence
depends on that of the forest.” ’*

The landslip differs from an avalanche; but against
this evil also protection is afforded by woods and forests.
M. de Grosse having occasion to state that inundations are
sometimes attributable to the filling up of the river bed
with mud, and sand, and gravel, and stones, brought down
by floods, ‘adverts to allegations which had been made
that the quantity of matter thus deposited was too incon-
siderable to justify the importance attached to it by him
and some others, and having in defence adverted to the
fact that the quantity was by no means inconsiderable,
he goes on to say :—‘ Now forests exercise a most power-
ful influence on the consolidation of the soil and the
maintenance of earth and rocks on the slopes of the
mountains. They act both by the trunks and the roots
of the trees: by the trunks, in arresting the fall of dis-
lodged rocks which were rolling over the slopes devoid of
woods, towards the bed of the torrents; by the roots, in
opposing an invinsible resistance to the diluent action of
water, and insurmountable obstacles to landslips. It is in
making a trench in a forest, and observing the inextricable
interlacing of roots in which are enclosed clods of earth
and fragments of rocks, that one can alone form any idea
of the intensity of these resistances. “ Vegetables,” some-
where says M. Cezanne, “always consolidate the soil; the
roots are like the meshes of a net; they let pass the

 

* Philippe Breton, Jnpenveue des Ponts et Chaussées, Etude d'un Systeme General
de Defense Contre bes Torrents des Alpes. Concertée entre les Fonctionnaires des
Porets et des Ponts et Chaussees (p. 89).
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 91

water and retain the matter which the water was taking
with it in its course.” The chopped straw which we
knead into the clay; is it not designed to augment the
solidity and consistency of the clay masonry? What else
does art do here than copy nature? Let the engineers who
think we exaggerate cast an eye over their accounts, and
compare the value which they assign to rubbish under’
woods, and to rubbish under uncovered land. They will
find in the considerable augmentation of the former the
measure of the action which we are seeking to demon-
strate.’

The action of trees in preventing avalanches is two-fold.
The interlacing of the roots tends greatly to consolidate
even arable earth; and while most landslips are
occasioned by the undermining to a short depth of the
superficial layer of a slope, this is generally occasioned by
a rush of water produced by the rainfall in some more
elevated locality ; and the unvarying effect of reboisement
in the basin of reception as to prevent the formation in
this way of torrents.

In regard to erosions thus produced, M. Surell writes in
his Etude sur les Torrents des Hautes-Alpes :—

‘The torrent which dashes a great body of water over
‘very steep slopes undermines and eats away with fury the
base of the banks. These fall in, and little by little pull
down towards the bed the adjoining property, which is
finally engulfed by the waters. As the banks are generally
very deep, their fall brings in its train effects the results
of which extend far from the spot. All the surrounding
land is disturbed. Some portions undermined subside,
others slip, others break away, leaving deep crevices.
Along the two banks of the torrent may be seen large
chinks or rents running parallel to'the bed. These sub-
sidences, these rents, and this disturbance spread from
place to place, repeat themselves to incredible distances,
and end by including the whole sides of the mountain
within the range of the effects, There are many quarters
92 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

which can be named which the erosion of torrents have
made so unstable that it has become impossible 1o build
upon them. On the left bank of the torrent Les Moulettes
there may be seen houses belonging to the village of Les
Andrieux, which have been rent at a distance of more than
800 métres from the bed. On the highway, No. 91, oppo-
site Les Ardoisidres, we have an example of a considerable
revers of a mountain eaten away by the Romanche and
disturbed by continual movements of the soil. The
instability of the soil has compelled many families to
abandon cottages situated at a great distance from the
river. One could scarcely comprehend that that could be
the cause of movements so remote, if the analogy of facts
and other evidences had not proved it to be so in a
manner the most irresistible.’

Numerous cases are referred to in a note followed up
with the remark,—‘I have thought it right to multiply
citations, because the cause of these movements has been
often misapprehended, and notably so in the case last
mentioned. The inhabitants attribute it to some particu-
lar character of the ground. Having under their eyes only
the case of their own locality, they are not aware that it is
a phenomenon quite general and common to all torrents.’

He specifies movements of the soil in the mountain of
Saint Sauveur, over against Embrun, brought about by the
torrent of Vachéres, and by a great many other torrents of
the third class ; also similar movements in the district of
Vabries, mined by the torrent Crevoux on the left bank,
and in the district of Villard Saint André, by the same
torrent on its right bank ; it is stated that this ground had
become more mobile subsequently to the formation of a
canal for irrigation ; accounts are given of similar move-
ments attributable to the torrent of Sainte-Marthe, near
Caleyéres, in connection with which it is stated that there
was there a mill apparently on the point of being engulfed,
and of movements, attributable to the torrent Merdanel,
above Chadenas ; and it is stated that very violent move-
ments have been observed in the districts of the Diveset,
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 93

of the Labéoux, of the Rabioux, of the Boscodon, of the
Ruisseauioux (Lauterat), &c. And he goes on to say,—
‘ There are whole villages built in bassins de réceptions which
are threatened to be engulfed in this manner by the torrents.
Every year the torrent acquires more of the ground, and
the village abandons to it several cottages. These facts
demonstrate the encroaching march of these water-courses.
Little threatening at first, they increase in size, they
extend themselves, and soon they reach the habitations
built without mistrust ata great distance from their banks.
There were, before the thirteenth century, on the borders
of the Ralioux, near to Chateaureux, a monastery inhabited
by the Benedictines. Ata later period the monks deserted
it through fear of its being engulfed, and now one sees the
ruins suspended in the midst of the river’s banks.

‘There are threatened with a similar fate the village of
Lacluse, by the Labéoux (Dévoluy) ; that of the Hiéres, by
the Mauriand; that of the Arvieux, by the Moulettes ;
the hamlet of the Marches, and the hamlet of the Maison-
nasses, by the torrent Rousensasse, on the right bank of
the Drac (Champsam).’

Having specified these as villages or hamlets exposed to
a fate similar to that of the Benedictine Monastery, whose
history is given, he goes on to say,—‘ Most frequently the
undermining of the soil is done gradually, and this action
is the more slow and the more regular in proportion to
the extent of the region. The great mass of ground
deadens the movements, and impresses them. with a kind
of continuity. But at other times also the soil detaches
itself suddenly, as if through the effect of a blow. It is
thus that in the valleys of the Dévoluy, some years ago, a
fragment of the mountain Auroux, covered with cultivated
fields, precipitated itself, in one block, into the gorge of
the torrent Labéoux. The commotion occasioned by this
frightful fall was felt at a considerable distance, in the
village Lacluse, and the inhabitants attributed it to an
earthquake. The cause was no other than erosion by the
torrent, whieh had sapped the base of the ground.
94 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

‘This may demand some explanation.

‘Many lands are formed of parallel banks, disposed in
flat layers and raised up on great inclinations. Often an
interposed bed, more soluble or less tenacious, is decom-
posed or disintegrated by infiltration, If it happens at
the same time that the under banks be attacked by the
current at the foot, an enormous weight of ground finds
itself suspended over an abyss; the force of adhesion
being weakened, it no longer suffices to keep together
this mass and to attach it to the body of the mountain ;
it is then detached in a mass, and it slides over the surface
of the decomposed bed as on an inclined plane. One may
indeed see similiar landslips frequently occurring in the
limestones of the lias formation, which decompose with
the greatest facility, and which often present a schistose
stratification; this kind of ground extensively prevails
here. Jn other cases the grounds have been formed of
the débris of the upper parts of the mountains; they
compose a rough mass without stratification, and most
frequently without consistency, covering the stratified
nucleus of the mountain, and forming on its surface beds
of great thickness. It rarely happens that a bassin de
réception does not contain within its circuit a large strip
of this quite recent formation, for it is into the scooped
out parts that the débris have had to roll and rest. And
one may easily see that the erosions which take place in
such grounds, when they attack the foundation of very
high banks, must force the soil to detach itself in
great masses; and the fractures will take the form of
immense prisms, in accordance with laws similar to those
regulating land-shoots (pousée des terres). So that it is in
the abundance of certain kinds of earths, and in the
composition of the soil itself, that we find the secret of the
principal power of these-torrents.’

It is established beyond all question that reboisement is
an efficient preventitive ; and in manifold cases torrents
and landslips have made their appearance after, but only
after, the destruction of forests in the basins of reception
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 95

and.on mountain slopes. Therefore are such reckoned
amongst evils which have been occasioned by the exten-
sive destruction of forests,

Srection E.—Sanp-DRirF ts.

Amongst other evils attributable to the destruction of
forests, besides those which have been noticed, are sand-
drifts. It has been found that the uprooting of a bush on
a sand-plain, bound down with verdure, has been like the
first percolation of water through some crevice in the
retaining embankment of the sea: the drift has gone on
increasing and extending with the effect of covering a
large area of fertile fields with sterile sand, rendering them
as sterile as the sand upon the sea-shore.

In the sand-drifts of the Bannat in Hungary there exist
roots of trees and pipes of agglomerated sand supposed to
have been formed by accretions around roots of trees which
have been decomposed and removed by subsoil moisture.
Large remains of roots have been found in the steppes of
Southern Russia. In what are now called the Landes of
the Gironde there stood formerly sea ports and towns with
trees, if not also forests, as part of their environment, And
remains of ancient trees have been found at intervals in
sand-plains from the Bay of Biscay along the coasts of the
Atlantic and the Baltic, till we reach the continuation of
these in Russia, Poland, and Hungary. But this may be
insufficient to warrant the allegation that wherever sand
is now drifting the drift is attributable to the destruction
of the forests of which these are the remains. All that
can be affirmed is that thus they may have originated ;

that by restoring of such woods the drifting of the sand
may be stopped; and that no more effectual remedy for the
evil has been found. And the legitimate inference is that
thus the sands of the steppes and sand-plains of Europe,
covering, as they do, an immense area, may have been
bound down of old; and that the destruction of these
forests, in whatever way this may have been effected, once
96 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

more set them free, occasioning many of the sand-drifts
of the present day.

Of fixed sands being set free to drift, and to desolate
fertile lands through the destruction of trees, an illustra-
tion is supplied by the history of drift-sands in the vicinity
of Danzig.

‘Amongst the more extensive sea-shore sand-hills,
writes Herr Wessely, in his treatise entitled Der Europd-
ishe Flugsand und seine Kulture (pp. 221, &c.), ‘may be
reckoned those on the gulf of the East Sea, through which,
flowing past the great commercial town of Danzig, the
Vistula empties itself into the sea; the sand-hills there
rise to the height of 180 feet above the sea-level. These
dunes, which are continuous from the present mouth of
the Vistula, and indeed from Neufaehr to Kahlberg,
extend over some six German miles [a German mile 1s
equal to four and a-half English miles], were by man’s
hand, and through man’s spirit, first created and then
subdued, and were thus in a sense made a practice ground
and high school for Seestrand Dunenbau, or culture on
sea-side dunes. As is pretty generally the case on the
coasts of the Baltic, the dunes here, with a solitary excep-
tion, were on the slope towards the sea, and were exposed
witbout defence to the blast of the sea breeze, which
would allow no tree planted by the hand of man to thrive,
were by Nature herself, covered with white pines and all
kinds of bushes, and, promiscuously among these, heather,
and mosses, and grasses—in a word, with plants of one
kind or another, and so protected against the sea breezes.
But the unreasoning greed of man destroyed these woods,
uprooting even the stumps of the trees, allowed the cattle
continuously to wander about upon the dunes for pastur-
age—in short, treated these so recklessly that the protect-
ing covering of them disappeared, and the masses of sand
of which they were composed became exposed to the
drifting action of the wind.

‘As a consequence of this, the dunes naturally began
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, 97

moving and advancing, propelled inland. At first only
meadows and fields were covered by them, but soon the
inhabited places were threatened.

‘So early as the beginning of the last century the two
villages, Kleinvoglers and Schmergrube, were completely
buried, and the village Polski, with the exception of two
groups of houses, was covered up by the dunes which had
been set in movement. And at that time man had
learned so little as to how he might oppose his own
strength, knowledge, and power, to the devastating opera-
tions of the elements, that these devastations were regarded
with astolid resignation as an unavoidable fatality.

‘About the middle of the century the dunes lying
nearer to Danzig [which is situated about four miles from
the Baltic], through the barbarous treatment to which
they had been subjected, and more especially in conse-
quence of the destruction of the woods upon them, began
to spread and to advance towards the fertile district
beyond, which occasioned no little trouble and anxiety.
More especially did they advance upon a forest of pine
trees belonging to the town of Danzig, four German miles
[or eighteen English miles] long, and year by year addi-
tional strips of this forest were buried under their masses
of sand, :

‘The only means of help against the advancing tide of
sand which suggested itself to the people of that time
were erected on the ridges of the most advanced dunes,
consisted of hedges, of posts, and pine branches, which
with an expectation that they would arrest the sand to
seaward which was being put in movement, and so prevent
the further advance of the destructive march of the dunes
on the landward districts beyond. This end was, how-
ever, by no means accomplished, because great masses of
sand accumulated before the fences, and on this account
again and again new fences required to be constructed
above the old ones, but the wind still bore a great deal of
sand over the fences, and though the evil might be dimin-
ished, it was in no way overcome. Moreover, the ever

H
98 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

quickly increasing height to which the fences were being
raised was seen to be in the highest degree demanding
of consideration. This was bringing ever nearer the danger
of a breaking through of the accumulating sand, which,
should it occur, would entail a fearful destruction of pro-
perty—one in no way less than if the dunes had been
left to advance as they were doing before this attempt at
the stoppage of them had been made.

‘In this dilemma the Philosophical Society of Danzig
in 1768 offered a prize for the best answer to the question,
What are the most efficient and least costly means of pre-
venting the continuously progressing sanding up of the
Danzig links, and of preventing the further growth of the
sand dunes ?

*Titius, Professor of Natural History in Wittenberg,
who previously had been in Danzig, gained the prize.
Titius, in a treatise On the Restoration of the Woods on
the Coast, especially plantation of White Pine, as the only
means of effectually arresting the calamity, showed that
thus only could the sand be prevented from drifting inland.
First of all, there might be planted, with a view to giving
stability to the sand, the Arundo arenaria, which had done
good service in Denmark, in Zealand, and North Jutland ;
and subsequently trees might be planted along the sea-
shore in strips protected by fences.

‘The most intelligent suggestions of this prize essay,.
however, did not yet obtain a practical application ; on the
contrary, they went on heaping fences upon fences on the
crests of the dunes, and by so doing brought the threatened
pine tree forests still more under the sand-drift by the
material which was thus collected. The necessary funds
required for this, Herr Wessely adds sarcastically, ‘ were
given gratuitously by the inhabitants of the threatened
places !

‘By the want of such fixity as may be imparted by a
covering of vegetation, and by the interlacing of the long
roots of trees, the dunes may prove an insufficient barrier
against even a deluge occasioned by inundation.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 99

‘The mobile sand in the district under consideration
supplies an illustration, In the early spring of 1840 there
occurred near Neufaehr a disastrous, sudden, and utterly
unexpected outburst of the Vistula through the dunes
which had been formed there, and which were then about
90 feet in height. In the darkness, intensified by a snow-
storm, of the night between the Ist and 2nd of February,
the inhabitants of Neufaehr were brought into great dis-
tress and alarm. by an abnormally high water in the
Vistula, and were completely occupied with their troubles,
which were great enough, when at daybreak on the morn-
ing of the 2nd, some of them, amongst whom was the
Dune Inspector, Krause, discovered in the midst of the
fearful devastations which had already been effected what
had happened but a little way off, which was such a
catastrophe as had never before been heard of.

‘In order to the right understanding of it, it must here
be remarked that the Vistula, before emptying itself into the
sea, flows for a long way almost parallel to the shore, and
in passing by Neufaehr bends towards the site of this
place, so as to approach it within a distance of 35 fathoms.
‘The local condition of the place leads to the conclusion
that there at one time a branch of the stream must have
flowed into the sea, which, through some peculiarity of it,
and more especially the sanding up of the side towards the
sea, became closed; and what consequently occurred was
that the stretch of dunes was there of a much less eleva-
tion than elsewhere, and was traversed by a sponge-like
watery portiun, drawn out to a point in the direction of
_ the sea, which was always wet, and in a high flood of the
river was covered with water three feet deep. The level
of the stream was higher than this ground; and from this
there was a constant percolation of water.

‘ As now on the day in question the Vistula, which was
laden with large masses of ice, was unusually swollen, |
being as much as eighteen feet above the level of the sea,
could not be withstood even at the expense of percolation,
such as had hitherto been sufficient. The percolation con-
100 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

quered, and took the form of an actual outburst and
rupture, with consequences which may be more easily
imagined than described,’

All of these evils were evils consequent on the destruc-
tion of woods. And as it was there, so has it been else-
where.

Of what has been effected in France, Surell, to whom
we are indebted for the discovery and exposition of
the natural history of torrents, has written :—‘ There the
roads, the dwellings, the cultivated crops, have been swal-
lowed up by mountains of moving sand, as in the Alps
they have been buried by the dejections of torrents. And
there may be cited entire villages doomed to destruction,
while the time of their perishing may be predicted
with precision, as the scourge advances with a regular
step. Had it been left to itself, the department of the
Landes would have seen its littoral transformed by insen-
sible degrees into a desert of sand, interspersed with
perfidious marshes, which, extending themselves from
the Adour to the Garonne, and marching onwards towards

‘the interior of the country, were threatening to invade
every place up to the gates of Bordeaux,

‘When, in 1780, Bremontier, Ingenieur des ponts et
chaussées, after having attacked on its scientific side the
phenomenon of the march of dunes, came to propose a
regular project of plantations as the only defence which
could be opposed to them successfully, there were not
awanting those who cried out at first in regard to what
was called the impossibility of applying his system.

‘It is the misfortune of some men, of too positive a
nature, to see nothing, and believe nothing, beyond what
is already existing before them. To them everything,
save the palpable reality present to them, is a Utopia or
dream, as if reason did not permit us to foresee and affirm
with complete certainty absent facts known through the
logical connection which they sustain with other facts
already known to us.
EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 101

‘To-day, the Administration, enlightened by half a cen-.
tury of experiments, and master at last of the subject, has
organised in the Landes a number of works, the admir-
able success of which is beyond description.’

Details are given in a volume I have published, entitled
Pine Plantations on Sand- Wastes in France, in which are
detailed the appearances presented by the Landes of the
Gironde before and after culture, and the Landes of La
Sologne ; the legislation and literature of France in regard
to the planting of the Landes with trees; the characteris-
tics of the sand-wastes; the natural history, culture, and
exploitation of the maritime pine and of the Scotch fir;
and the diseases and injurious influences to which the
maritime pine is subject.
PART IL.
ELEMENTS OF MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

 

20%

 

More than one—not only once, but again and again—may
have felt prompted while reading or glancing over the pre-
ceding pages to ask,not for information but as an expression
of superior intelligence, What have droughts, and floods,
and landslips, and such narratives as have been given, to
do with Modern Forest Economy? And therefore I may
state that the object of Modern Forest Economy is in its
details to counteract sone one or other of the evils
which have been spoken of, or others like unto them which
have resulted from the destruction of forests; and in its
entirety to restore to a nation, and through it to the
world, what has been lost through that destruction having
been carried so far as it has been, so far as this can be
done under existing conditions. And the details in
question have been given that it may be known what are
the evils which it is sought to counteract, and what are
aie of the more striking forms which these evils have
taken.

In view of what has been stated in preceding chapters,
one of the first things which will suggest itself to an
intelligent student of the case, as desirable to be
done with a view to arrest the evils resultant from the
destruction of forests is to prevent, so far as possible, all
reckless or even unprofitable destruction of these, including
in this all waste in the necessary exploitation of them.
Endeavours have been made to accomplish this.

The phenomena, and what may be called the natural
ELEMENTS OF MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. 103

history, of the destruction of trees have been care-
fully studied, and remedial. and preventive measures
have been devised and applied. Measures have been
adopted so to arrange the sites of felling and the successions
of these so as to secure as much protection as possible
against the violence of wind for all forests, and more
especially the protection of these while the trees are
young ; by legislative enactments the destruction of forests
on the mountain sides and mountain summits has been
prohibited; and even the exploitation of such, when
belongir'g to private proprietors, has.been. made subject
to the approval of the forest officials of the State. The
natural-history of fungi, of insects, of birds, and of. beasts,
which are injurious to trees, and the effects produced upon
trees by different. species of these have been studied ; and
foresters have been instructed in the results. obtained in
order that they may be made acquainted in its manifold
aspects with the evil which is thus done, and know how
intelligently to follow in each case such preventive or
‘ remedial treatment as may be expedient in the manage-
ment of forests under their charge, or what to advise in any
case in which their advice may be sought.

The destruction of forests occasioned by fire has been
studied in its different aspects; and salutary restrictions
have been imposed upon practices which imperil forests by
originating what may be called accidental fires; and in
so far as fire and the woodman’s axe are employed in the
exploitation of forest lands and forests, appropriate
measures of precaution and prevention against waste have
been prescribed and extensively adopted.

But together with endeavours to arrest the progress of
waste and destruction much is being done to replenish
exhausted forests, and replant forests which have been
destroyed, and create forests where the want of them is
painfully felt.

And in the exploitation of forests, whether indigenous
or artificially created, it is sought so to conduct this as to
secure simultaneously sustained production of wood, a
104 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

progressive amelioration of the condition of the forests,
and a natural reproduction of this by self-sown seed.

Some of the measures which have been adopted will now
be brought under consideration. But it may be noted that
all that is contemplated is to supply such information as
may be sufficient to enable the general reader to under-
stand what has been done, and to enable the professional
student thus to enter upon and prosecute with some appro-
priate preparation a more exhaustive study of the various
measures thus brought under his notice, and others
connected with them in practice.

In the absence of English designations appropriate to
different methods of exploiting forests recognised in
Modern Forest Economy, I fall back upon those applied to
these in France.
CHAPTER I.
FOREST CONSERVATION.

AGAIN and again, within the last. five hundred years,
attempts have been made to arrest the destruction of
forests. When kings and nobles were hunters, and, though
they needed not to do so, lived to hunt the beasts of the
forest, cruel and disgraceful sanguinary laws were enacted
for the conservation of the forests, as a means of preser-
ving the game for these men to have the pleasure, and a
monopoly of the pleasure, of killing them. Upwards of
200 years ago the famous saying of Colbert, France perira
en faute des Bois/ was caught up and re-echoed far.and
near. In England, again and again, an endeavour more or
or less earnest was put forth to prevent the destruction of
our woods. In the beginning of the present century Lord
Nelson raised a warning voice like to that of Colbert ;
and the echo of this has been heard in our day; it is
modified indeed by circumstances, but the ground-note is
the same, From India, from the United States of America,
from Canada, from Astraulasia, and from both the southern
and the northern extremities of Africa, as in one place and
another it was perceived by observant patriots that the
destruction of forests was going on too fast, and was being
-earried too far, has the voice of warning been heard.

In Russia, with its apparently interminable forests, a
calculation has been made of the cubic measurement of
the annual production of wood by growth in all the forests
of the Empire—perhaps it would be more correct to speak
of it as an estimate, as only a proximate result could be
expected; and an estimate of how much is annually con-
sumed, in yielding firewood, and wood for the cabinet-
maker and the carpenter, and timber for buildings and
106 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

erections, and the construction of ships, and to meet the
demands of the export trade ; and the consumption having
been found to be greatly in excess of the production, a
calculation has been made of how long it will take to
bring upon the Emvpire the fate dreaded by Colbert for his
country, if the production and destruction be not speedily
equalised. Similar calculations have been made in America
and elsewhere ; and the voice of warning has been heard
here and there and everywhere. Well. will it be for those
who hear to take warning !

Precautions against the destruction of forests by cattle
generally take the form of an absolute prohibition of the
depasturing of cattle, more especially of sheep, and still
more especially of goats, in the forest when the trees are
young, and of the goats at all times—of the fencing in of the
forests, and the fencing of roads through the forests, along
which flocks or herds may have to go to localities in which
it may be less dangerous and be deemed desirable that
they should be pastured—and of the imposition of heavy
penalties upon both the herdsmen and the owners of cattle
found ‘trespassing.

For the preservation of forests against destruction by
depredations the means employed resolve themselves into
strict surveillance, and severe punishment of transgressions,
and the extinction, by legitimate and equitable arrange-
ment, of existing servitudes and rights of usage.

As precautions against the destruction of forests by fire,
there are enforced strict prohibition or careful regulation
of the use of fire in every form within the precincts of the
forest,-and within prescribed distances from its perimetor ;
the creation of cleared spaces around forests, and
traversing them as lanes in different directions, with a
view to arresting the spread of fire from without, and of
fire advancing within their bounds; and the instruction of
the adjacent population in means to be employed in the
extinction of fires in a woodland, and the enforced requi-
sition of their attendance and help in such work when

fires occur.
CHAPTER II.
REBOISEMENT.

BESIDES endeavours to secure the conservation of existing
forests, woods are being extensively planted with a view
to restoring the forestal condition of lands which have
had their forests more or less extensively impoverished or
destroyed. Sometimes this is done as a profitable culture ;
but more frequently, and much more extensively, is it done
with a view to securing again some of the advantages
which have been lost through the destruction of forests;
or to secure for lands devoid of these, advantages similiar
to those enjoyed, or which have been enjoyed, in proximity
to forests of greater or less extent.

Details of measures adopted to secure exemption from
devastating torrents and inundations, and from devastating
drifting sands, have been given in volumes referred to in
preceding chapters.

Of these operations the arresting of sand-drifts may
seem to be the most important where these are the
scourge of the district. Where floods and inundations
are the scourge, the sufferers may feel that the prevention
of such calamities is what is of most importance to them.
But the effect of forests on the humidity of soil and
climate is of importance to a much more extensive and more
widely diffused population. And the creation of forests
with a view to secure this may, where either'of the other
evils referred to prevails, have the effect of, at the same
time, counteracting that.

In preceding pages there have been adduced several
statements in regard to Algeria. That land supplies
illustrations of the good which may be affected in various
ways by the extensive plantation of woods.
108 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

While drawing upon Algeria for illustrations of general
advantages resulting from reboisement, I shall adduce
illustrations of the effects of reboisement in arresting and
preventing the occurence of torrents and inundations from
what has been seen in the Alps; and in illustration of the
effect of reboisement in fixing down and utilising drift sand
I shall cite some accounts of what has been done in
Northern Germany: premising that illustrations of each
of these categories of advantages equally striking might
have been drawn from other lands besides these.

SEcTION A.—GENERAL ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM
REBOISEMENT EXPERIENCED IN ALGERIA.

A colonist from Boghari wrote some years since :—
‘Twenty years ago we had numerous flocks, thanks to the
splendid pasture lands; and when we wished to see the
desert it was necessary to go on horseback from 45 to 50
kilométres. To-day we have no longer any trace of
pasture lands, and therefore no flocks; and as for the
desert we have no occasion to go so far to see it; leaving
the threshold of our houses, we step at once on to the
sand—deep and far-extending sand.’

The picture is saddening, contrasting as it does with
the amenity of numerous country mansions in Britain and
elsewhere surrounded by woods and lawns produced by
planting and culture. But like measures have, in pro-
portion to the extent, produced like amenity there.

M. J. Reynard, Sub-Inspector of Forests, writing on the
restoration of forests and pastures in the south of Algieria,
in the province of Algiers, cites the following statement :—
‘The probable results of these combined works will be,
the rendering more regular, and approximately more
uniform, a climate which is violent and extreme in its
sudden variations ; the amelioration of the régime of the
rivers, producing in turn an augmentation of the delivery
by the springs, and rendering more regular the flow of
streams and rivers, which at present have all the charac-
REBOISEMENT. 109

teristics of the most dangerous torrents ; the restoration of
pasture lands of great extent ; the settlement of the native
tribes, which are still nomadic, and the introduction of a
European element, which of itself is capable of giving to
pastoral industry all the development which it can take in
Algeria,’
"He goes on to say—‘ The influence on the Tell of this
region so restored will be beyond all question considerable,
rendering the climate more temperate, the rains more
frequent and more regular; making possible tc the
Algerine colonists the rearing of cattle on an extensive
scale ; presenting to the Arab proprietors, who are forced to
yield their lands to European industry as the only means
of drawing from it great profit, a new field of activity
better proportioned to their means of action; giving to
commerce and industry new products; and, in fine,
ensuring political security by peopling the frontiers of the
Sahara.
‘ And in a general point of view this restoration will be
a commencement of taking possession of that Central
Africa, towards which almost all modern nations to-day
direct their desires and ambitions.’ r
At a conference held in Algiers on the 11th November
1881, M. Reynard, in the course of an address delivered
by him, said:—‘This work of the reboisement of five
millions of hectares is a kind of speculation which only
the State could undertake. The revenue, the interest of
the half milliard thus invested, will be reimbursed to it
by the increase of the public wealth, by the extension of
its governmental power, by the development of industry,
of commerce, and of agriculture, not only in the colony,
but even in the metropolis itself. To form an estimate
to-day of what will be the value of these returns would
be to enter upon a calculation as impossible as if at the
commencement of the great public works of this century
they had made an attempt to form a correct estimate of
the future returns of the imposts. In France would not
any one have been reckoned a fool at that time who
110 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

should have announced there the present amount of the
budget of the receipts of the metropolis? _

‘In Algeria it should certainly suffice if the annual
increase of taxes should amount to five millions through
the assured protection to agriculture afforded by the
forests, to justify an annual expenditure of five millions in
works of reboisement or of improvement of existing forests.
The State ought not to seek indeed more than a simple
equilibrium of expenditure and income in the Budget, I
do not know what time and what works will be necessary
to. secure this annual augmentation of the revenue; but
forest science and forest economy affirm -unhesitatingly
that it would require less time for the existing fatalistic
inertia to lead to a much greater diminution by the gradual
increase of aridity, and by the uncertainty of the crops,
which is becoming greater every year.

‘Between these two alternatives, that of seeing the
receipts by degrees disappearing, or that of maintaining
an equilibrium in the budget by means of a productive
expenditure, a modern nation cannot hesitate.’

Section B.—EFFECTS OF REBOISEMENT IN ARRESTING
AND PREVENTING THE OCCURRENCE OF TORRENTS
AND JNUNDATIONS,

While in Algeria we see such results as have been
stated obtained elsewhere from extensive plantations in
mountainous regions, we find equally satisfactory results
obtained by the replanting of mountain basins and moun-
tain slopes. :

While Bremontier was towards the end of the last
century musing on the waste of land covered by the dunes
of Gascony, and the means of reclaiming those sand
wastes, it was perceived by others that the continuous
destruction of forests, and more especially the destruction
of these on the mountains, was producing disastrous
consequences, And more than one attempt was made by
legislative enactment to arrest the evil and reverse the
REBOISEMENT. ‘Wi

process, The increasing scarcity of wood for fuel and
other economic purposes demanded and received attention,
but it was seen that an improved forest economy, whilst
it might secure the conservation of existing forests, and
the utilising of these to the benefit of the proprietors and
of the nation, must be accompanied by a replanting of
the mountains of woods where they had been denuded
of these, and elsewhere if the threatening calamity was
to be averted.

In 1793 Fabre showed thai torrents were attributable
to the destruction of forests on the mountains. In 1841
Surell showed that torrents appeared and disappeared as
forests were destroyed and reproduced. In 1872.Cezanne
showed that this relation between forests and floods can
be traced from preadamic times to the present. And in
1874 Michel Costa de Bastelica traced indications of
torrential phenomena in what had been accepted as
glacial deposits of times anterior to what Cezanne had
designated the torrential era.

In accordance with these views arrangements were made

by the Government of France for an expenditure of ten
millions of francs in replanting with trees, and herbage,
and bush, ground drained by torrents; and within ten
years torrents which had been most destructive bad
become placid perennial streams, peaceful as a little
child.
_ Of one torrent, that of Sainte-Marthe, near Embrun—
the ravages of which by torrents are spoken of by M.
Hérecart de Thary in a passage previously cited [p. 86]
—of this torrent M. Costa de Bastelica, in a treatise
entitled Les Torrents, leur causes, leur effets, moyens de les
reprimer, et de les utiliser, leur action universelle, published
in 1874, writes :—

“In 1841, when M. Surell wrote his famous Htude sur
les Torrents des Hautes-Alpes, this torrent had acquired an
unenviable celebrity by its violence. It carried away
every bridge thrown across its course; at every storm of
112 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

rain those living along its borders in disquietude feared
they would see it burst its embankments and inundate the
lain. The works of extinction were begun in 1864; and
in 1869, when M, Cezanne, before publishing his work, .
procured for me the honour and satisfaction of showing
and explaining to him our works, he officially reported
that the extinction was then so complete that a simple
footbridge, placed at only 50 centimétres (20 inches) above
the torrent, now become a streamlet, defied the greatest
floods. This footbridge still (1874) stands where it was
seen by M. Cezanne, In the interval there has been no
lack of violent storms, the meteoric conditions have in no
way changed. The fact of the extinction of the torrenti-
ality of the stream is thus established and certain. And
in proof, a Sydicate organised by proprietors interested to
carry out defensive measures against the torrent having
no longer any raison d'etre, has dissolved itself.’
This I consider a fair illustration of what has been
accomplished in cases innumerable in the regions of the
Alps, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees.

In addition to what has been said, I feel prompted to
cité the following statement by M. Gentil, Zngenieur en
chef des ponts et chausées and rapporteur au conseil general
des Hautes-Alpes, But I must premise it by mentioning :—

On the 28th of July 1860 there was issued a law on
the reboisement of the mountains. Four years later, with
more extended experience, on the 8th of June 1864, was
issued a law on the gazonnement and reboisement of the
mountains, enjoining the combination, where expedient, of
the creation of a turf of grass and herbage with the plant-
ing of trees upon the mountains, And on November 10th,
1864, was issued a Government order for the carrying into
execution of these two laws.

Copies of these laws, and of documents connected with
them, have been given by me, with detailed information in
regard to the practical measures taken during the first
decade of these operations, and of: results which have
REBOISEMENT. 113

followed, in a volume of which I have made frequent
mention in preceding chapters, Rebovsement: or, Records of
the Replanting of the Alps, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees, with
trees, herbage, and bush, with a view to arresting and preventing
the destructive consequences and effects of torrents.

M. Gentil writes:—‘ The aspect of the mountain has
been all at once completely changed; the ground has
acquired such solidity that the violent ‘storms of 1863,
which have occasioned so many disasters in the High Alps,
have been altogether harmless in the restored perimetres.

‘The mountain has in a short time become fertile;
there, where a few sheep could scarcely live by consuming
everything, may be seen now an abundant herbage which
may be mown.

‘But it is of importance that examples and figures
should be given; I shall therefore cite definite facts which
relate to our roads and our projects. At Sainte-Marthe
there was prepared in 1861-1862 the plan for a work to
be constructed on the cone de dejection of the left bank of
the torrent. This dyke, the expense of which was esti-
mated at about 40,000 francs, had for its object to preserve
the national road, No. 94, and the adjacent properties,
against invasions by the torrent. To-day the torrent of
Sainte-Marthe is completely extinguished, nothing more
comes down now from the mountain. The proprietors
and the engineers no longer dream of constructing dykes,
simple enclosing walls suffice to protect the lands on the
banks.

‘As for the benefits by which the lands in the valleys
situated near to the cones have profited, they are immense.
Not only. are the proprietors relieved from creating costly
and precarious dykes, but, beyond this, their ‘property
being no longer exposed to the danger of being buried
under gravel, has now an assured value. Cultivation is
carried on with the hope of an assured harvest. This
certitude is itself a benefit; and the proprietors, being
able now to reckon on the future, no longer dream of
leaving their homes and settling elsewhere.

IT
14 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

‘ As results of. the works executed in the perimetre of
Roissard, in Isére, the properties adjacent to the torrent
of the Rif-Fol have been again brought under cultivation ;
and the village of Fau, formerly threatened by the torrent,
has not been afraid to open across the restored perimetre
a canal which leads off the water of the torrent itself to
the ‘basin of the public fountain; and there is now no
interruption to the communication along the road from
Grenoble to Sisteron.

‘The town of Bourg-d’Oisans, built upon an old cone
of dejections or rubbish brought down and deposited by
the torrent of Sain-Antoine, and having its very existence
threatened by this torrent, has now allowed to tumble into
ruins the dykes, which the inhabitants had raised at great
expense, but which are now no longer needed.

‘Since the execution of the works of consolidation and
reboisement undertaken in the perimetre of Luz-la-Croix-
Haute, in Dréme, the torrents and the ravines, the destruc-
tive effects of which spread themselves over the greater
part of the lands in the plains, especially over the dwelling
places in the hamlets of the Grisil and of the Granges,
have become inoffensive water courses, almost never
bringing down rubbish, And more than 120 hectares of
fertile fields, representing a value of 300,000 francs, are
now protecied from the invasions formerly so frequent and
so damaging.

‘In the Lower Alps the value of the interests safe-

. guarded by the works executed in the perimetre of Seyne
is estimated at three millions of frances; and at another
spot in the department the reboisement of the perimetres
of Fauon and of Saint-Pons will give protection to lands
of at least an equal value.’

Again :—‘ Amongst the perimetres of reboisement under-
taken in the Lower Alps, that of Laboret presents to-day
the most complete specimen of the results which we have
a tight to expect from the works entrusted to the execu-
tion of'the Forest Administration by the law of 1860.
This perimetre combines indeed, on a limited scale it is
REBOISEMENT. 115

true, but in a complete combination, all the difficulties
which could be presented to the execution of the different
works necessary to the extinction of a torrent by the
entire reboisement of its basin of reception.

‘The results obtained to-day make of this a typical
case.

‘The torrent of Laboret held in 1860 quite a special
notoriety, due to the ravages which its deposits occasioned
in the lower lying regions, to the frequent landslips of its
confining hills, and the absolute bareness of its surmount- |
ing slopes. This bareness of the slopes of the Laboret,
which was proverbial in the country, was such that the
sheep had readily given place to goats, which finished by
destroying the rare tufts of vegetation which still existed
here and there. :

‘On every occasion of a storm, on every occasion of rain
even, communication along the road was interrupted, and
presented serious dangers for travellers, so that from the
first appearance of the law of 1860 thoughts were enter-
tained of applying it to the lands which included this
dangerous torrent.

‘The Decree of Public Utility was issued on the 18th
June 1862, and the works were commenced at‘once. The
works purely preparatory were completed in 1870, at
which period they proceeded with a plantation of black
pines in tufts over the whole surface of the perimetre,
which were designed to constitute the dominant kind of
tree in the forest of the Laboret, which forest may be
considered as having been created and maintained since

_ 1871.

‘The whole aspect of this perimetre has been completely
transformed ; those great black slopes, unstable and deso-
late, are to-day covered with a dense vegetation of forest
plants, of forest trees, both broad-leaved and conifers, and,
in fine, with bushes of all kinds. The innumerable ravines
which cut up these slopes, and supplied to the floods great
quantities of materials, are to-day filled up, and their bed
has disappeared under a dense growth of osiers and of
116 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.
broad-leaved shrubs further up. To-day [1874] the tor-
rent of Laboret no longer exists. It has given place to a
‘stream flowing over a succession of descents with a slope
of some millimétres, carrying off no material, and showing,
even after a storm, only clear water.

‘The effect produced in the country by the happy
results obtained in the case of the Laboret has contributed
powerfully to modify public opinion in regard to reboise-
ment,’

M. Delafont, Znspector des Faux et Foréts, in a Memoire sur
Petat des Forets dans les Hautes-Alpes, writes in reference to
the evil :—‘ The sad results which I have pointed out are
everywhere deplored, All who are not blinded by ignor-
ance, or whose heart has not been dried up by selfishness,
give expression to the thought that it is high time to
arrest the ever-increasing progress of so fearful a devasta-
tion. They groan under the uumberless evils caused by
the de-boisement of the mountains, which seem to call upon
us to come forward to save our forest riches. These reflec-
tions, these prayers, I have myself heard’ many a time
uttered with an energy inspired by a profound conviction
of a great evil, and of the imperious necessity which
there is to suspend that course of procedure. Let us
listen to the cries of distress of a population alarmed
about their future !’

And Surell writes:—‘ One thing which it is impossible
to dispute, and is beyond all equivocation, is the influence
which forests exercise on the conservation of even the soil
of the mountains; and to him who would pretend to deny
this, we have only to point to our Alps, which give so
powerful and deplorable proof of its being the case,—a
proof evident, I shall not say to every intelligent being,
but to every eye.

‘How comes it about that a truth so simple and one of
so great interest to many has not from the first been so
strongly established as to be understood and accepted by
REBOISEMENT. 414

all? Is it not now high time that public opinion should
take it up anew? The question is one deserving of some
trouble being -taken with it, for on the solution of it
depends the future life or death of many departments of
the land.’ And again, ‘I do not wish to have any barren
compromise made. I wish to let it be seen that it would
be better far to fight the torrents than to construct again
at great expense masses of masonry and earthwork, which
would always, do what you may, be costly palliatives,
better adapted for concealing the plague than for extir-
pating it. Why then should not man call in the aid of
these living forces, the power and efficiency of which have
been so clearly revealed to him? Why not command
these forces to do anew, and this time by man’s orders,
what they have already done in old times in so many
extinct torrents, and that only by the orders of Nature ?’

In a report to the National Assembly, made on Novem-
ber 25, 1872, by M. le Vicomte de Bonald, it is stated :—

‘MM. Surell et Césanne in their valuable H’tude sur les
Torrents des Hautes Alpes, have succeeded in demonstrating
beyond question the truth of the following aphorisms :—

*That the existence of a forest on the ground hinders
the formation of torrents ;

‘That the destruction of the forest delivers up the
ground to the ravages of torrents ;

‘That the development of forests brings about the
extinction of torrents ;

‘And that the felling of the forest revives again the
extinct torrents,’

‘So fully are these facts regarded as established in
Switzerland, says a writer on forest management in the
Edinburgh Review of October 1875, ‘that at the Social
Science Congress at Berne, in 1865, the question was
raised as to the means of establishing a common legislation
between countries watered by the same rivers, in order to
protect their respective interests by the maintenance of
118 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the mountain forests, and the greatest possible attention is
now paid to the subject by all the Cantonal Governments
of Switzerland,’

I have cited [ante p. 110] an opinion expressed by M.
Reynard at a conference held in Algeirs in November
1881, to the effect that it would be economically advan-
tageous to incur an immense expenditure on reboisement
in Algieria. In proposing the French Forest Budget for the
preceding year, 1880, the same argument was made use of
by the Budget Committee of the Legislature.

Under the head of Constructions, Reboisements, and
Gazonnements, an additional million was asked for chiefly
for works of reboisement, for which it was stated good
use would be found if a desired augmentation of 50,600
francs referred to were granted. After the disasters
occasioned in 1875 by the overflowing of the Garonne
and the Herault, and their affluents, the Minister of
Finance and the Minister of Public Works had given
assurance that measures would be concerted between the
departments over which they respectively presided, to be
taken with a view to prevent the re-occurrence of such
calamities. Many surveys, which were subsequently
undertaken, had been completed, but, in the absence of
funds, the works of reboisement had not been begun.
Subsequently the Minister of Public Works had, as has
been stated, solicited the co-operation of the Forest
Administration to give a specification of works urgently
called for in Savoie. Information furnished by the
Engineers of Roads and Bridges showed that the four
torrents of Saint-Martin, the Grillaz, the Pousset, and the
Saint-Julien, all affluents of the Arc, were causing every
year great destruction, and it was of importance to arrest
this without delay. And, as was stated by the Minister
of Public Works, every system of extinction of torrents is
based on the reboisement of the basin of reception. The
work was to be undertaken in the coming spring by officials

already designated, and they would be partially completed ,
REBOISEMENT. 119

before the close of the year, But the execution of the
works could not be undertaken if the necessary credit
were not conditionally granted. The sum stated was the
minimum which would be required. According to infor-
mation in possession of the Administration, to execute
the works in Savoie alone would absorb more than a
million of francs ; and it was stated that it was impossible
to attach too great prominence to the essential fact, which
according to the opinion of the Corps of Engineers of
Roads and Bridges and of the Forest Corps, completely
covers and governs the question, and which is this—that
the scourge of inundations cannot be averted without the
preventive action of works of reboisement, and that there
was consequently an urgent necessity to carry out these
works with the least possible loss of time.

The Budget Committee,‘in reporting on this, called
attention to the fact that out of the total grant applied
for, there had to be met the expenses of the construction
of forest roads, and subsidies to public roads facilitating
the exploitation of forests, and the erection of forest
lodges; and further, 1, To grant seeds and plants, and
subsidies in money to communes and private individuals
undertaking works of reboisement or gazonnement; 2,
To acquire lands within areas in which works of reboise-
ment were declared to be of public utility ; 3, The execu-
tion of works intended to buy ground and extinguish .
torrents by such works over areas in which they were
compulsory ; and 4, Subsidies to individuals and communes
possessed of servitudes, to promote the substitution of
cattle for sheep, and to secure the conservation of mountain
pastures. And in regard to the extra million called for
they entered at large on a detailed statement of what
had been done, and with what results, giving tabulated
statements as well as details, all showing how effectually
reboisement had arrested torrents, and that for the com-
pletion of the works in the Alps, in the Cevennes, and the
Plateau of Central France, and, in the Pyrenees, there
would be required 148 millions of francs (upwards of
120 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

£6,000,000 sterling), and 72 millions more (upwards of
£3,000,000 sterling) for the purchase of land; and they
recommend that the extra million applied for should
unhesitatingly be granted.

‘We are all, say they in their concluding sentence,
‘deeply impressed with the thought—better far spend a
million in reboisement than have to give such a’sum to
sufferers from inundations;’ and the grant was made
unanimously by the Chamber, together with an addition
of 5000 francs to be employed in developing roads to
facilitate the exploitation of communal forests, the effect
of which, it was anticipated, might be to raise the mean
proceeds of 360,000 hectares, or 900,000 acres, of forests
from five francs to fifty francs per hectare.

Section C.—EFFECT OF REBOISEMENT IN Fixinc Down
AND UtiLisinc Drirt SAND IN NorRTHERN GERMANY.

In a volume entitled Pine Plantations on the Sand Wastes
of France, I have supplied information in regard to such
plantations on the Landes of the Gironde, and on the
Landes of La Sologne. We have in Northern Germany
another phase of the work.

In a preceding chapter [ante p. 96-100] have been
narrated how some of the evils which came upon the
land in the vicinity of Danzig, in consequence of the
destruction of woods by which the mobile sand of the
dunes had been previously bound down and kept in its
place. Herr Wessely, from whose treatise, entitled Der
Europiishe Flugsand und seine Culture, most of the narra-
tion was cited, goes on to say:—

‘When, in 1793, the Danzig Republic was incorporated
with the State of Prussia, the new Government soon
brought under discussion the fencing, once for all, of the
dry dunes, Not only would the continuous reduction to
waste of the town’s forest not be suffered, but it was deter-
mined to meet the growing danger which threatened the
commerce of Danzig: as it was feared some one of these
REBOISEMENT. 121

drifts might extend to the Vistula, fall into it, and
thereby occasion a most disastrous sanding-up of the river,
whereby the navigable course might come to be com-
pletely blocked.

‘One of the burghers of Danzig, Soeren-Bioern, a Dane
by birth, kept alleging and repeating that in his native
country extensive stretches of sand dunes had been bound
fast by planting them with sand grasses; and he recom-
mended, as did Titius years before, the planting of
_, Arundo arenaria, and the subsequent formation of pasture
grounds, and the planting of different kinds of trees,

‘In the year 1795 there was entrusted to him the fixa-
tion of a stretch of dunes a quarter of a German mile—
more than one English mile—long, and 140 klafters or
fathoms broad, which was threatening the Vistula in the
direction of Neufaehr. In the following year he executed
this work to the general satisfaction, and thereupon he
was installed Plantagen-Inspector, and conducted till his
death in 1819 the Dunenbauten, or works for the arrest of
the drift sands on the Danzig links.

‘The active energy and enterprise of Bioern did not
limit itself to this local undertaking, but from 1799 to
1802 he was repeatedly consulted by the Konigsberg
Chamber in regard to the treatment of the dunes to the
north of that town on the Lochstaedt and the Friesland [?]
and Courland links.

‘From the professional opinion given by him, and the
printed documents connected therewith, itis manifest that
Bioern continued to advocate the planting of fences designed
to arrest the sand thrown up from the sea. These, however,
were not to be above 14 feet high, and were to be such as
might be formed of sunk bushes, in no case planted very
thickly, that they might not fail of their object, nor
be destroyed by storms. A series of such fences, one
behind another, were to be planted. After these were
sanded up, and a gentle slope was formed in front of them,
those slopes were to be sown with sand grasses—these
plants being the only ones which could resist the action of
122 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

waves. For culture on the inland patches he recommended
more especially plantations of the white pine and of the
black alder, also of birches, poplars, and aspens, groves of
which he had seen in a state of vigorous growth between
the dunes; while acacias, which had previously been
recommended by Titius, had soon disappeared, though
they also at first promised well. Always in the beginning
it is not a lofty timber forest, but only a thick bush, which
it. should be sought to produce. __

‘With a view to the fixation of the seaward slopes of
the dunes he erected on the crests of these a fence of 8 ft.
posts placed at a distance of 15 feet from each other, to
which he fastened with wooden pegs from three to five
longitudinal pieces of paling, so placed that there were
interstices between them at Jeast‘an inch wide. The
design was by these on the one side to keep off the sand,
and on the other to keep off cattle, and to provide that,
should they be blown down they could easily be put up
again without being taken to pieces, which three men
could do, as there were in the posts grooves or holes in
which the colstaff could be placed. The whole of the
patch to be fixed was, moreover, encircled by a fence of
bushes at the base of the sandhills.

‘ Furthermore, Bioern had, at some fifty fathoms beyond
the outermost seaward fence, what was called a “storm
fence,” which was constructed of light posts, with thin
laths of paling nailed to them, between which were
wrought in light branches of alder from eight to nine feet
long. Next to these, and at right angles to them, he threw
out what we may call “trap fences,” which, commencing
from two to six fathoms beyond the storm fence, were
carried over some five and twenty fathoms from the crest
to the depth beyond ; and finally, upon the deeper places
which had to be filled up, there were constructed fences of
branches, cutting these up diagonally. ‘With the planta-
tions close to the crest, and on both sides of the fences of
branches, he laid live hedges, in the free spaces between
which he planted sand grasses, and: in the deepest places
REBOISEMENT. 123

of the cultivated area, and also near to what may, strictly.
speaking, be called Vordunen Platzes, he sowed grasses of
the same kind,

‘This was beyond question the first Prussian systematic
Dunenbau, or culture of sand-drifts; and there is not
a little which is interesting in its subsequent history.

‘By the end of 1796 a great deal of the work was com-
pleted. Meanwhile, dunes to the west of the village of
Neufaehr were extending themselves to the Vistula, and
beginning to pour their masses of sand into the bed of the
river. In consequence of this it became necessary in the
beginning of 1797 at once to concentrate the whole
working power upon this point.

‘From this time onward the work of arresting and con-
solidating these sands, the cost of which, partly at first,
and latterly entirely, had been met from the State
Treasury, made regular and well defined progress; and
they proceeded to the planting of the sands with the Kiefer
or Scotch fir. In the time elapsing up to 1804 inclusive,
the high dunes up to the village of Bohnsak were fixed ;
and thus all anxiety in regard to the Vistula was
removed. The years 1806 and 1808 were devoted
more especially to sylviculture ; then were planted.
in the hollows, Salix arenaria and S. fusca, the downy
mountain willow, and the brown-stemmed willow; and
with them the Alnus incana, the hoary leaved alder, by
means of cuttings. And from Bohnsak eastward the
upper portion of the strand was sown with the sandrohr
to produce a Vordune for a defence in advance of the
works,

‘In the course of the eleven years occupied with opera-
tions suggested by Bioern there were expended on fixing
the sands 38,826 guilders* advanced by the town, and
48,807 guilders advanced by the State: in all, 87,633
guilders, or on an average 8000 guilders a year, The

 

* The guilder is equivalent to Is. 11d., or about 2s. British money.
124 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

work was done by days’ labour, and not by piecework,
which greatly increased the cost.

‘With the year 1807, in which Danzig was by Napoleon
made a Republic, the work was brought to a stand for
many a year. The new Republic could neither maintain
the work already done nor stay the devastation which
recommenced anew,

‘In 1814 Danzig again became a part of the Prussian
dominions; and with this there ensued a more active
period of Dunenbau, or arrest and culture of dunes. The
State repaired the injury sustained by the old works at
an expenditure of 21,032 guilders. But Bioern did not
live to enjoy the sight of the successful enterprise. He
died in 1819. He lived, however, to complete the fixing
of drift dunes which were imperilling Vogelsang and
Kahlberg. Bioern, whose service had from 1797 been
acknowledged by bestowing on him the rank and title of
Royal Kammer-Commissioner Councillor, is regarded by
some as not only the originator of the Prussian system,
but of the new systematic Strand-dunenbau, or operations
designed to arrest and utilise drifting ‘sand dunes on the
coast everywhere. His works successfully accomplished
the object desired ; and the principle was in its measure
applicable by those who were engaged in carrying on
similiar operations in island sand drifts; and it is acknow-
ledged as such by them at the present day.

‘At the same time it is not to be overlooked that Bioern
had not so completely understood the nature of sand
dunes as to found a work which would equally and that
completely meet the requirement of the object, and the
reduction of the work to a minimum of expense ‘It is
manifest,’ says Wessely, whose narrative I am endeavour-
ing to render into English, ‘he did not value sufficiently
the importance of a Vordune employed now-a-days to
catch and retain the sand coming up from the sea; the
mode of procedure which he adopted in the culture of the
firs for the consolidation of the mobile sand was much
more expensive than was necessary ; and, in fine, we miss
REBOISEMENT. 125

in them that complete knowledge of plants which at the
present day is always at command.

‘With the land connection of Danzig with the fortress
of Pillau secured, the work of Dunenbau on the Frischen
Nehrung was resumed, and it was determined to give
more attention to the extension of plantations.

‘In the year 1820, as the town would do nothing more in
the matter, the Government of Prussia undertook the work
entirely, and appointed for this purpose the Dune-Inspec-
tor Krause, who conducted the Dunenbau of the province
till 1856. He has given explicit statements in regard to
his mode of operations in a manual, or Lehrbuch uber den
Dunenbau, prepared and published by order of the Govern-
ment. With the entrance of Krause upon his duties
there were appropriated 15,000 guilders, and thereafter
6,000 guilders annually to the resumed reclaiming, affixing,
and improving, of a stretch of dunes from the mouth of
the Vistula to Kahlberg, some 6$ German miles, or 30
British miles long, covering an area of about 5000 jock.*

‘With these monies there were up to 1848, 290,000
guilders spent on this land, wherewith some 440 jock of
the upper dunes were fixed, and 1330 jock planted with
Weisskiefern, white firs, and birches.

‘Tn 1832, in consequence of an urgent cry for help which
was heard from outside this district, from the remains of a
village destroyed in the previous century, called Polsk,
which were in danger of being again overwhelmed by a
rapidly advancing dune, this additional district was taken
into consideration, and a special grant of money was made
for operations there.

‘There was taken in hand a portion of the Frisch Neh-
rung, some 22 German miles [114 British miles] long,
extending from Kahlberg to the boundary of East Prussia ;
and it was sought to cover with woods about 2500 jock

 

* The Austrian Jock, the measurement spoken of, I understand to be equal to three-
fourths of an Imperial acre.
126 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

which had been almost entirely stript of vegetation, and
to fix the land in order that the small villages situate
there, and amongst others Polsk, might be made safe ;
and to maintain the land communication between Danzig
and Pillau, as well as to prevent a breaking through of
the sea into the Frische Haff,* lying behind these strand
dunes, In the first instance, Polsk had to be saved.

-*In November 1833 the fixing of the sand began in
very stormy weather. While this still continued,
many houses were covered up with the overwhelming
sand, and before these and others could be completely
protected, it was well nigh the middle of January 1834;
when a hard frost, and the money appropriated to the
enterprise, had so far advanced the work that the safety of.
Polsk could be said to be secured. In point of fact, there
was only one house entirely, and a second half covered up;
and by and bye the work was so far advanced that pretty
nearly the whole of the eastern dune district, well nigh
7000 jock, of open sands were fixed; and in 1848 only
some 1500 required to be fixed. .. . .

‘Krause, during the 35 years in which he conducted the
West Prussian Dunenbau, or engineering operations to
arrest and utilise the dunes, had altered the method of
operations introduced by Bioern, as is described in his
Lehrbuch, or Manual of Instruction, and by which the
results following the operations conducted by him were
obtained.

‘Tn the first place he had recognised the necessity and im-
portance of making the Vordune or sand-banks between the
sea and the dunes to be more immediately operated on,
whereby the whole strand, without interruption, is lined,
and of fixing these by the planting of them continuously

 

* As has been intimated before, the Frische Haff is one of the extensive sand-formed
projections into the sea, parallel to the shore, characteristic of that district, and not
unknown on the coast of England. They present the appearance which ‘we should
expect a bar of a river to take if it rose above the level of the sea, leaving an outlet,
nat in the centre, but at one erid. The enclosed basin is designated the ‘Haff ’—the
haven, gulf, or bay—while the re land enclosed is designated the ‘Nehrung.’
A little further to the east is the Kurishe whilo further to the west a similar Haff
is found on the mouth of the Oder, upon which is situated the port of Stettin.
REBOISEMENT. 127

with sand grasses, He overlooked, however, the advan-
tage of their complete formation, and, in point of
fact, we miss this in the Strandbauw, or strand-engin-
eering, of that time. Krause confined himself in this
to closing openings between the tops of dunes, which
were not unfrequently pretty steep, with artificial Vor-
dunes. Besides this he desired that the Vordunes should
raise themselves somewhat steeply on the strand. In
every case indeed the outer slope had a steeper inclina-
tion towards the horizon given to it than the strand
in advance of it towards the sea. But if we would secure
for this a proper slope, and secure the former against: the
dashing of the waves, and consequent damage, we must
avoid giving a steep inclination to the Vordune. Finally
Krause left the Vordunes simply to produce and cover
themselves with plantations of grass, whereby the process
of formation was for a time delayed. For the fixing of the
flat sides of the high and drifting dunes, Krause recom-
mended and practised planting them with Arenaria in a
network, the meshes. of which were greater or less
according as the inclination and the direction of the wind
shock determined. Such a proceeding is in every way
rational, provided it relate to a locality in which only the
Arundo arenaria is in question.

‘Strange to tell, however, Krause laid it down expressly
in his book that a continuous covering up is one of the
necessities of life of the Arundo arenaria, and yet he
recommended this plant also for the windward side of the
dunes, and enjoined the work of fixing everywhere to be
undertaken with this plant, and there where there could
be no expectation of sanding up the same as elsewhere.
Naturally in all such places the plants would die, and
would render needful repeated expensive renewals, aye,
and until these places had covered themselves naturally,
which they would do mostly with Carex arenaria. .

‘In these circumstances the strand grasses naturally could
do no other service than act as would some dead low
bush, or very low bush hedge, and it is more than doubtful
128 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

whether, in view of numerous and expensive after works,
planting with strand grasses be the cheapest means of
fixing the sands. And then there comes up the considera-
tion that in another way the grass planting operates
injuriously—namely the stiff leaves, half broken through
by the wind, moved about by the wind, make circular
furrows around each single plant, and loosening by this
means the sand, and disturb the spread of vegetation.

‘ Krause had often, instead of the Arundo, let them plant
cuttings of the sand willow. These grew well for a time
where they were sheltered, but died soon where this was
not the case; and where they did grow up they only
increased the injurious irregularity of the dune. Where
plantations were to be formed, this was done either on
ground already fixed, or by means ofa covering of branches
in a way to be afterwards described.

‘When the Royal Ober-forstmeister, Julius von Panne-
witz, visited the works in 1821, he found a mode of fixing
the ground practised, which deserves mention. It
was an alternate planting of rows of cuttings of willow
and sand grass. For the rows of willow cutting they
adopted, according to the slope, a distance of from 8— 42,
on an average 24’, and for the intermediate rows of grass
plants, 2—3}. ‘

‘ The cuttings, $ and 14 inches thick, and 2 feet long, of
the Salix arenaria, the rods of which seem to succeed best
when cut in autumn, were planted in furrows from nine
inches to twelve inches deep, laid so closely that they
touched one another, and after the furrows were filled up
and trodden down they stood from three to four inches
above the level of the ground. The sand grass was laid
in slanting, and these low planted rows seemed nowhere to
be blown out, which, with the previously higher planted
rows, was everywhere the case.

‘The results which Krause obtained deserve full recogni-
tion, for they took away the threatening character from
fearful dunes; and if it was the case that only here and
there they were covered with firm turf or wood they were
REBOISEMENT. 129

yet clothed in such a way that the most violent storm
could take but little more sand from them; and this was
immediately replaced from the dune itself. A great part
of the dune lands were also transformed into forests of
Scotch fir, and this not only in low-lying parts, but to
considerable heights.

‘Besides this, the fundamental improvements which
Krause introduced into Dunenbau, or engineering opera-
tions on dunes, and more especially the exposition of net-
work plantings, became a benefit to the whole of Europe ;
and the last named system of planting bids fair to be
perpetuated in practice, so that the Krause period showed
an important improvement in the art, the end of which
we have not yet seen.’

The Prussian Stranddiinenbau of the present [1873] is
prosecuted under the superintending direction of Ober-
landbau-Director G. Hagen, who, in his valuable Manual
of Hydraulic Engineering in 1863, devoted to this subject
a thorough discussion, resulting in the fundamental
development of the rules now observed in such works.

The most substantial feature of the new advance is the
exceptionally excellent plan of a rational Vordune, which,
by arresting the sea-sand continuously along the strand,
and maintaining always a gentle slope towards the sea,
shelters the high dunes from the lash of the waves.

Hagen in his valuable work states again and again
that the Arundo arenaria only promises success, and is only
recommendable, where there isa persistent sanding up—‘ a
fact,’ says Wessely, ‘which, it appears to me, has not yet
been sufficiently attended to, and like as in Krause’s time,
when the strand-grass was looked to too much as the
universal binding plant, so now it would be much better
to combine with the use of it other means of arresting the
drift.’

The dunes at Danzig offer many highly interesting
phenomena, though they may be of but secondary impor-
tance in dune culture.

K
130 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

On the way from .Kahlberg over the dunes to the sea-
strand, for example, we pass by the side of the forest which
formerly extended over the whole Nehrung. Between
this, and the place where the buried village of Schmerg-
ruhe lay, are to be seen a number of stumps of Scotch
fir, the trees of which have unmistakably been cut down
by the hand of man. The felling took place in the course
of the 17th and 18th centuries, and was accompanied by
the covering up of Schmergruhe. From these stumps the
wooden material has entirely disappeared, and as a rule this
has in the roots been replaced by white sand, which
exhibits all the texture of the earlier wood. The bark
has, however, in all cases been well preserved, and is only
of a dark, blackish-brown colour, as ifit had been made
into charcoal ; and it forms still an enclosing vessel for
these wonderful contents. The small remains of wood
found there is-also quite like fossilised wood.
CHAPTER IIT.
FOREST EXPLOITATION.

WHILE much is being done to secure the conservation of
existing forests, and the replanting of trees on lands-from
which forests have been cleared, and others where this
can be done with economic benefit, attention has again
and again been given to the waste accompanying the
exploitation of forests under successive modes of conduct-
ing this, and endeavours have been made to secure the
good without the accompanying preventable evil, with the
result that there has been developed from one exploitation
which might be considered as almost absolute loss, an
exploitation which secures simultaneously a sustained pro-
duction: of wood, a progressive improvement of the forest,
and a natural reproduction of it from self-sown seeds.

Section A.—SARTAGE

While man is yet a dweller in woods, living on fruits
and roots, and the bodies of animals caught or killed by
him, as best he may, he begins to increase his store of food
by the culture of plants by which food is yielded. For the
growth of this a portion of the forest must be cleared of
shrubs and trees. And we find this being done in many -
places by men in the state of civilisation to which I have
referred.

In many places in which axes might be had trees are still
brought down by kindling a fire around the lower portion
of the trunk ; and among people who have not made much
progress in developing the capabilities of the land, a por-
tion of forest is cleared by a fire confined to the spot which
is desired for cultivation ; and one or two or more succes-
132 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

sive crops are raised on the ground thus cleared, and
enriched with the ashes of the trees. When the produc-
tiveness of this is considerably diminished it is aban-
doned; and the same operation is gone through else-
where; while the abandoned land may or may not be
recovered by the forest.

This usage is very extensively followed amongst tribes
of people in the state of civilisation T have indicated ; but
it is not unknown amongst other peoples considerably
more advanced. In France it is practised and known
under the designation Sartage; I do not know of any
specific English designation; and therefore I shall avail
myself of this designation in further treating of it.

Sartage in France is now confined almost entirely to the
burning of bush and brushwood and of débris of felled
timber. The practice is practised chiefly in the Ardennes,
in the districts of Liege and Luxembourg in Belgium, and
in certain localities in Southern Germany. It is more like
the burning of rank grass, rank herbage, and rank bush
than a burning of the forest; every precaution is taken
against its extending to trees which are valued; and it
would be difficult to prove that at any previous time it
was otherwise, though the idea may be suggested that
thus have forests been extensively destroyed, as in Ger-
many they have been uprooted, to give place to agricul-
tural operations.

The designation is applied to a treatment to which, in
certain districts, coppice woods, which are reproduced
principally by shoots and by suckers from the stumps and
_roots of trees which have been felled, are subjected. After
each cutting down of the coppice wood, cereals are cul-
tivated for two or three years ; and the ground is prepared
for this by burning on the surface of the soil all débris,
brambles, and brushwood, such as elders, hazles, cornels,
dog-wood, junipers, and thorns, together with the herbs and
turf growing there, with a view to render the soil more
favourable for the growth of the crop desired.
FOREST EXPLOYTATION. 133

It is a practice of great antiquity, and it is considered
to have had its origin from a deficiency of arable land,
through the poverty of the soil, the lay of the land, and
the climatal condition of the country.

Of the form which it took at first, some idea may be
gained from the form in which the practice is still main-
tained in various other countries. It may be seen in full
operation in Finland, in Sweden, and in India,—in a more
limited operation in South Africa,—and in a modified
form it is carried out systematically in the British
Dominion in North America.

Of nations in the north of Europe, the most distinguished
for agriculture in regions bordering on the Arctic Circle
are the Finns. With them the usage, under the designation
Svedjande, has been practised so long at least as they have
been known to history. The soil of Finland, throughout
much ofits extent, was originally little suited for regular hus-
bandry, and there the mode of culture adopted consists in
cutting down the forest on the ground they wish to sow, and
burning the felled trees upon it, that the ground may be
manured by the left ashes ; it is then ploughed and sown
with rye, barley, &c. If the soil be of a very fertile descrip-
tion, it is sown after the first harvest has been reaped with
oats and afterwards with buckwheat ; after this the ground
is allowed to rest, and to be again covered with forest.

This mode of culture has been observed to impoverish
the soil so much that the forest destroyed is not always
replaced by a new growth; and as thus the forests and the
products of which Finland is so dependent have been much
diminished, the Government has endeavoured to limit this
destruction of the forests as much as possible, and now
only in destricts where the uneven and stony condition of
the ground renders it difficult to carry out regular hus-
bandry does this mode of culture still prevail; in these,
however, it is still practised.

From what is said by W. von Schubert, in his Resagenom
134 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

Sverige Norrige Leppland, published in Stockholm in
1823, in 8 vol. 8vo; and from what is said by Lars Levi
Laestadius, in a work entitled, Om Mojlighsten och Ford-
elin af allmenna Uppodlingar i Lappmarken, published
in Stockholm in 1824, it appears that the practice of burn-
ing over woodland at once to clear and to manure the
ground now spoken of as having prevailed extensively in
Finland, was at that time, and from other incidental
references to it, it appears still to be there a recognised
usage in Swedish husbandry.

It is a practice, says M. Parade, extrément ancienne, and
such it appears to have been in France ; but there may be
claimed for it an autiquity far greater than is indicated
by the practice of it in France, in Sweden, or in Finland ;
for amongst the conservative tribes of India it has been
practised to an extent which makes the Sartage of France,
and the Svédjande of Sweden and of Finland, appear
as mere childish play. In the Canara district it is known
as Kumari. In a document issued by the Board of Revenue
in India, in 1859, it is stated that, ‘In some parts of
Bekal, which is the most southerly of the taluks of Canara,
Kumari cutting forms part of the business of the ordinary
ryots, and as many as 25,746, or one-sixth of the population,
are supposed to be engaged in it ; but to the north of the
taluk it is carried on by the jungle tribes of Malri Kadeos
and Mahratais to the number of 59,500.’ Here we have
upwards of 85,000 men felling, burning, and destroying
forests, for the sake generally of one—or at most of two
crops—sometimes, but rarely of three. ‘After which the

‘spot is deserted until the jungle is sufficiently high to
tempt the Kumari’cutter to renew the process.’

By this practice vast quantites of most valuable timber
has been destroyed. :

A good crop of hill rice, or Nullet, is obtained in the
first year after the consumption of the wood. A small
crop is taken off the ground in the second year, and some-
times in the third, after which, as has been stated, the
FOREST EXPLOILATION. 135

spot is deserted until the jungle is sufficiently high to
tempt the Kumari cutter to renew the process. In the
south, where land is more scarce compared with the
population, the same land is cultivated with Kumari
anew in 12, 10, or 7 years; but in North Canara, the
virgin forest, or old Kumari, which has not been cultivated
within the memory of man, is generally selected for the
operation. , ;

‘ This rude system of culture,’ says Dr Cleghorn, formerly
Conservator of Forests in the Presidency of Madras, ‘ pre-
vails under various names in different eastern countries.
It is called Kumari in Mysore and Canara, Pounam in
Malabar, Punakad in Salem, Chena in Ceylon. Much
information relating to it may be found in Buchanan's
Journey through: Mysore, &c., Passim, and in Tennant’s
Ceylon, vol. ii., p. 478.’

The name Kumari is peculiar to the Canara and the
Mysore districts. It is thus described in an extract from
the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue.:—

‘The name is given to cultivation which takes place in
first. clearings. A. hill-side is always selected, on the
slopes of which a space is cleared at the end of the year.
The wood is left to dry till the following March or April,.
and then burned. In most localities the seed is sown in
the ashes on the fall of the first rains, without the soil
being touched by implement of any kind; but in the
taluk of Bekal the land is ploughed. The only further
operations are weeding and fencing. The crop is gathered
towards the end of the year, and the produce is stated to
be at least double that which could be obtained under the
ordinary modes of cultivation.’

Thus in South Africa do Bechuanas in some districts
prepare virgin soil for culture; thus do the Boers burn
down the Rhenoster bush, herbs, and arborescent shrubs,
growing on the ground as a preliminary step towards
bringing it under cultivation, converting it from veld into
land ; and in the vicinity of Uitenhage I have seen a
136 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

portion of primeval forest cultivated in true Kumart
style by Kaffirs, with the consent of the proprietor, for
which a consideration had been given.

And in the British Dominion of North America the
operation there designated Clearing, may be seen carried
out systematically, ruthlessly, and recklessly, which is this,
in a somewhat modified form, adapted to the circum-
stances of the case, clearing land of forests that it may be
used for agriculture.

In a work entitled Historical and Descriptive Sketches
of the Maritime Colonies of British America, by John
M ‘Gregor, published in 1828, in a sketch of the progress of
a new settled location upon uncleared forest land, we are
told the first object is to cut down the trees, which is done
by cutting with an axe a notch into each side of the tree,
about two feet above the ground, and rather more than
half through on the side it is intended the tree should fall.
The lower sides of these notches are horizontal, the upper
make angles of about 60°. The trees are all felled in the
same direction, and after lopping off the principal branches
cut into 12ft. or 15ft. lengths, the whole is left in this
state until the proper season for burning arrives, generally
in May, when it is set on fire, which consumes all the
branches and small wood. The larger lops are then either
piled in heaps and burned, or rolled away to make fencing
stuff. There follows an account of the agricultural opera-
tions which succeed, but it is the destruction of the forest
with which alone we are concerned here.

' Sometimes there is combined with such operations as
have been detailed, the preparation of potash from the
residuum of the wood consumed.

The making of salts is toilsome and laborious, but is
considered profitable, especially where it is carried on in
conjunction with clearing.

The extent of land which has been denuded of forest by
such clearings is immense,

What is sought by Sartage is a temporary use of the
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 137

land for horticultural or agricultural operations. It may
be considered a primitive form of clearing ; but this term
1s now generally applied to what, in contradistinction to
that, is a clearing away: of trees and bush to secure a clear
space for permanent occupation of it as a site for some
building, or as a garden, or as fields for the continuous
culture of cereal or other crops.

This may be properly called an exploitation of the forest
land—it can scarcely with propriety be called an exploita-
tion of the forest. With more appearance of propriety
Sartage may be so designated, in as much as one object is
to utilise the ashes produced from the burning of the
wood, and not simply to get rid of the trees; and in as
much as it is practised in certain cases in the management
of forests as a means of effecting improvement in these,
which cannot be alleged of forest clearing, as that term is
generally employed.

In a volume entitled Finland: tts Forests and Forest
Management (pp. 58-115, 217-220), the advantages and
disadvantages of Sartage are discussed at considerable
length, and copious details are given of the practice of it
in different lands.

SEcTION B,—JARDINAGE.

Where the object is, not to clear the ground for agri-
culture, but more profitably to exploit the forest produce,
the method of doing so generally followed has been, and
in many places still is, to look out for a tree likely to serve
the purpose designed, be this what it may, fell it and
bring it out from the forest, leaving the others standing.
Where it is firewood which is wanted, the wood-cutter
may go on cutting down almost every tree or shrub, and
yet not capriciously as the onlooker may think, while
felling many, leaving others. This is virtually the same
thing; and this method of exploitation is by French
foresters designated Jardinage, or gardeners practice, in
13g MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

allusion to the practice of the gardener in gathering
vegetables, taking up what seems to him to be sufficiently
grown, and leaving others to grow till they may be
required.

Jardinage, as thus explained, is a method of exploitation
which may seem to be a very natural one to adopt; and
this supposition is borne out by the extent to which it has
been adopted. But it has proved very destructive to
forests in all lands, andin all times. The careful considera-
tion of other things than merely making the most of the
woods as a source of pecuniary supplies, with which this
method of operation is followed by British foresters in
woods and plantations under their charge, such things as
the appearance presented by the woods as a contribution
to the amenity of the locality, and the value put upon the
shelter which they afford, these having often a value far
beyond what may be represented by the price of the wood
in the market, leads to its being practised in parks and
policies in Britain in such a way that little, or, it may be,
no damage is done to the plantations. But where it has
been followed simply as a means of most easily and con-
viently exploiting the trees of a forest as supplying an
article of trade, it has generally proved destructive.

Illustrations of the destructive effect upon forests of

- this method of exploitation may be found in Hydrology of

South Africa, pp. 172-175; in Forests and Forestry of

Northern Rusna, pp. 89-100; and in the French Forest

Ordinance of 1669, with Historical Sketch of Previous Treatment
of Forests in France, pp. 35-89.

SEcTIon C,—EXPLOITATION ACCORDING To ‘LA METHODE
A TIRE ET AIRE,’

I have had occasion elsewhere to quote a statement
by MM. Lorentz and Parade, fathers of the School of
Forestry in Nancy, that :—

‘Towards the middle of the seventeenth ceutury, if not
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 139

before, it was found necessary to adopt legislative measures
to protect, by prudent foresight, the interests of the future
while supplying the requirements of the present; and
in 1544, 1576, and 1579, there were issued ordinances
designed to regulate the felling of timber, and deter-
mining the duration of lengthened periods during which
no fellings should take place in portions of the forest which
had been cleared of trees deemed fit to be felled, that. time
might be afforded for the reproduction of forest by a new
growth of trees; by the ordinance of 1669 the general
practise of it [Jardinage] in France was terminated, and
now it is only tolerated in circumstances in which the
application of the more advanced forest economy of the
present day would be productive of more evil than good,
as would often be the case on mountain crests, &c., where
the woods afford shelter and protection, which, once
destroyed, it would be difficult to restore, and impractic-
able to restore till after a time, during which damage,
perhaps irreparable damage, would be done.’

In the management of plantations of conifers in the north
of Scotland, it has been the practice in some places where
all the trees in each plantation are of one age, to make a
clean sweep of the plantation when the trees have attained
a satisfactory size; and afterwards to replant the ground.
with another crop of trees. This mode of felling is known
in French Forest Economy as felling @ blanc etoc, The
practice applied thus to plantations, and successive plan-
tations, might be considered a kind of gardening, or Jar-
dinage: for thus do gardeners treat some of their crops; but
it is not so designated, for, be it noted, that designation is
applied to the treatment of trees; this is applied to plan-
tations alone. And by a succession of periodical plantings
on different spots every year, or every five years, or every
ten years, there might be raised a series of crops fit for
the axe at successive periods, whereby might be produced
a continuous supply of wood, and of pecuniary returns. If
this be realised, little difficulty will be experienced in
140 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.
conceiving of a similar result being obtained by a series of
successive fellings being carried out in an extensive forest,
each of these fellings being confined to a specified section
of the forest. If the forest were of considerable extent
the series might be made to comprise not only many
years, but'many decades, giving time for the section first
exploited being again replenished before the last section
in the series has fallen under the axe. Ifa hundred years
would be sufficient for the trees to attain the size desired,
let the forest be supposed to be divided into ten sections,
and for ten years the fellings be confined to one of these
sections, and the same thing to be done in each succeeding
decade till the whole forest has been exploited, by that
time the cycle of successive fellings might be recommenced.
And the process might be continued ad infinitum or ad
libitum, if by self-sown seed, or by a combination of
artificial sowing or planting, with this natural mode of
replenishing the forest, the forest were replenished.

Such a method of exploiting forests was introduced in
France as a substitute for Jardinage, and it was for .150
years practised in various countries on the Continent of
Europe—I may say it has been so for more than 200
years, for it is in some places practised still. The tech-
nical name given in France to this method of exploitation
is La Methode a tire et aire—Cut and come again—Use
and yet retain possession. Details of provision for the
adoption of it are embodied in the French Forest Ordi-
nance of 1669, an ordinance which, when first pro-
mulgated, was hailed with delight in other lands besides
France; and it still is spoken of as The Famous Ordi-
nance of 1669,

Of this Ordinance, it is stated by M. Parade, of the
School of Forestry in Nancy:—‘From the middle of the
16th century onward are found, in the Forest Ordinances
of our kings, traces of management relating to fixed
periods of felling successive portions of the forests. But
it was more especially the celebrated Ordinance of 1669
which enjoined generally in royal forests .and forests held
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 141

in mortmain, the observance of this useful operation, the
ee basis of all forest management.

‘The method of. exploitation referred to in this Ordi-
nance was,.as stated, La Methode a tire et. aire ; it had for
its object: in timber forests to substitute order and
regularity of successive fellings of equal extent for the
recklesness and disorder of Jardinage ; in coppice woods
to prevent the too frequent felling, and also the incon-
siderate felling of reserved trees.’

The Ordinance coniprises many prescriptions besides
those relating to this method of exploitation. In regard
to this it contains these :—

Cuarten XI.—Of Surveyors.

1.‘ There shall be selected and commissioned in each
department, a Surveyor, a man of experience and tried
probity, to accompany the Grand-Master while he is on
his visitations, auction sales, and re-formations, and under
his orders to make all surveys, measurements, and ordinary
verifications, and those of re-formation ; and two others
shall be appointed in each bailliwick or Mattrise.

2. ‘They shall only be accepted on testimony to their
good life and behaviour, and they shall, before they enter
on their duties, give security of a thousand livres, which
shall be taken by the Grand-Master as assurance against
abuses or malversations which they may commit in their
work, They shall make of all fellings to be sold a figured.
plan, on which they shall indicate the corner trees, with
their marks, the partition and boundary trees, with a
statement of their number, quality, and all the marks
upon ‘them, the distance from one to another of the
corner trees, and an outline of the felling, both in straight
lines and in angles, and all the circumstances necessary to
serve for the recognisance or conservation of all the trees
reserved.

3. ‘They shall make all the surveys and measurements
142 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

required in their district, as well as in those held in
Grurie, Grairie, Tiers et Danger, and by title of appanage,
co-proprietorship, sale contract, and usufruct in the
Maitrise, in our woods, grounds, and domains, and the
same for those of ecclesiastics, communities, and holders
of mortmain, together with all that may, for whatever
reason, be ordered by authority of Courts of Justice. This
they shall do preferentially to all other Surveyors, on pain
of nullification of what may be done by others ; but with
permission to private persons to avail themselves of all
acts, measurements, and voluntary deliverances of other
Surveyors selected at their option, as may seem to them
good.
hs © The Surveyor of the Grand-Master shall be bound
to follow him when ordered, and to make by his orders all
allocations of sales, surveys, measurements, and verifica-
tions, plans, diagrams, determinations of fellings, and
recognaisances of bounds, borders, and ditches, and
generally all acts pertaining to his profession; and to
keep a good and faithful register, of which he shall
deposit a duplicate, with plans and diagrams, in the
hands of the Grand-Master or the Registrar of the
Maitrise, eight days after the completion of the work, and
obtain a receipt for it, under pain of suspension the first
time, and deprivation of office on repetition.

8. ‘If any Surveyor have, by connivance, favour, or
corruption, concealed a removal or alteration of boundaries,
have suffered, or have himself made, a change in corner
trees, he shall, for the very first case, be deprived of office,
condemned to a fine of five hundred livres, and be
banished for ever from our forests, unless the Officers,
under pain of possible loss of office, mitigate or alter the
sentence.

CHarter XV.—Of Sales, Fellings, dc.

1. ‘There can be no sale made in our forests, woods,
or thickets, excepting in accordance with the regulations
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 143

which shall be ordered in our Council, or in letters patent,
formally and duly registered in our Courts of Parliament
and Chambre des Comptes, under penalty of restitution of
four-fold the value of the wood sold, against the pur-
chasers, and against the officials ordering such sales, the
loss of their office.

4, ‘The Grand-Masters shall every year, before the
auction sales of our woods, make a visitation of the lots
appointed to be sold, in making which they shall be
accompanied by the Surveyor thereto appointed, to whom
’ they shall point out the woods to be allotted for sale in the
following year ; and they shall mark out for him in what
form the boundaries shall be made for our greatest profit
and advantage, of which they shall prepare an official
report, which shall be signed by the Forest-Master or his
Lieutenant, our Attorney, the Garde-Marteau, and the
Sergeants of the Guard. A copy of this shall be delivered
to the Surveyor to serve as his guide, and to this he shall
be bound to conform himself, under pain of suspension or
declaration of his incapacity for the office; another shall
be sent to the Record Office of the Maztrise, and fifteen
days after his return to the principal town of his depart-
ment, he shall lodge a general statement of all the allot-
ments in the Record Office of the Marble Table for
reference.

5. ‘ Every year the Grand-Master shall make a copy of
his mandements and ordinances for the allotments of the
ordinary sales of our woods and forests, conformably to the
regulations ordered in our Council, where he shall enter
the number of arpents or acres, and the kind of wood to be
sold; and in which he shall designate in detail the wards
and trigonometrically measured lots, one or more of which
may be embraced in a ward, so far as shall be practicable,
following the observations which shall have been made in
the official reports after visitation, which he shall send to
the Officers of the Maitrise, before the first of June in each
year, who shall be bound forthwith to assemble and
144 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

together devote a day to the making the allotments, which
shall be done in their presence by the Surveyor.

6. ‘The Surveyor shall make, in presence of the Ser-
geant of the Guard, the lanes and trenches required for
the boundary ; shall mark with his stamp as near to the
ground as he can, such a number of corner trees, and divi-
sion and partition trees marking the angles and connecting
lines of the boundaries, as he shall consider sufficient,
with indications of the side on which he shall have im-
printed his stamp, the royal stamp, and that of the Grand-
Master. He shall make mention of the fact if he have so
imprinted any trees for corner standards, and of their age,
quality, nature, and size, and of their distance from one
another in poles and feet: as also he shall observe the
names of the sales in which they occur, if there be any
void spaces and their areas; he shall be required to
avail himself of at least one of the corner trees uf the for-
mer sale; and he shall prepare plans and diagrams of the
place which he shall have portioned out; and of all this
he shall make his official report, which shall be signed by
the Sergeants and Guards, and he shall place a copy of it
in the Registry of the Maitrise three days after having
made it, which shall be initialed by the Forest-Master and
our Procurator, with mention of the day on which it shall
have been delivered, and another copy of it shall be by
him sent forthwith to the Grand-Master.

9. ‘The trees marking the margin and the side of the
plot shall be marked with the royal stamp and the stamp
of the Surveyor on one side, differing in this from the
corner trees, which shall be marked on each side facing a
lot for sale.

10. ‘The Surveyors can neither measure more nor less
in each ériage than that which shall have been prescribed
to them by the Grand-Master for allotment, under pretext
of rendering the outline more regular, or for any other
consideration whatsoever, to such an extent that the
reduction or addition shall exceed one arpent for twenty,
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 145

or in this proportion, under’ pain of suspension and an
arbitrary fine, to be determined by the Grand-Master ;
and if three times such an error have been committed
by him, he shall be discharged, and declared incapable of
acting as Surveyor.

11. ‘The official report of the Surveyor being in the
Registry, he shall cause it to be delivered in like
manner to the Garde-Marteau for the martellage or mark-
ing of the trees, which he shall make in presence of the
officers of the Maitrise, and to this effect the royal stamp
shall be delivered up to the Garde-Marteau by those who
have the keys, and he shall proceed with the officers to the
triages in which the sales shall have been allocated, and by
their advice he shall select ten trees in each arpent,.of
lofty growth, of great vigour, and of fine propoftions, of
oak, and, if possible, of good wood and competent size,
which he shall mark as badliveaux or reserved trees, with
the royal stamp, and together with them the corner trees
and the trees marking out the boundary, and forthwith
after the martellage the stamp shall be brought back and
shut up in its case.

Cuaprer XVI.—Of Recollemens, or Re-Surveys of Fellings
after the Fellings.

1. ‘ The recollemens of all the purchases shall be made, at
latest six weeks after the time for clearing away and
bringing out the produce has expired, by the Forest-
Master, in presence of our Attorney, the Garde-Marteau,
or Keeper of the Stamp, the Registrar, the Sergeant of
the Guard, the Surveyor, and the Soucheteur, who shall
have made the survey and the souchetage, or enumeration
and specification of existant stumps, and of the Lieutenant,
if so seems to him good, but without his interfering,
excepting in the absence of the Forest-Master; and to
this end the merchant-purchasers shall be summoned
eight days before to meet on that day with other Sur-

L \
146 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

veyors and Soucheteurs, to make the new survey and
souchetage of the purchase.

2. ‘ When the Surveyors and Soucheteurs, with those first
employed, and. those who have been appointed specially
for the verification, shall have arrived on the ground, the
official report of the felling to be sold, of survey, of balli-
vage, or specification of reserved trees, and of souchetage
which shall have been made for the auction sale shall be
produced, and they shall reconnoitre the trees reserved by
the official reports and by the conditions of sale ; and to
this effect the Officers shall inspect carefully the purchases
from end to end in all their parts, the pied cornieres, ee
lizieres and balliveauzx, or the trees marking the angles, the
sides, and the margins of the allotment, and the trees
reserved for seed, so as to see that the lots have been well
cut, treated, cleared out, and freed of all encumbrance —of
which they shall prepare their official reports, containing
details of encroachments, malversations, defaults, and
defects, which they may have seen, and of any deficiencies
of trees retained by the official reports of martellage and
ballivage.

5. ‘The official reports of the second souchetage shall be
examined and collated with those of the first, and any
difference which shall be found between them shall be
noted minutely and in detail; to which effect there shall
be produced all the official reports of exoneration which
shall have been made for the merchants and their factors,
and there shall be observed any defaults and malversations
which may be found to have been committed in the course
of the use and exploitation of their purchases, of which
they have not been validly exonerated.’

The circumstances in which this Ordinance was issued,
together with the Ordinance in its entirety, are detailed
in a volume to which reference has already been made,
French Forest Ordinance of 1669; with Historical Sketch
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 4147

of Previous Treatment of Forests in France, in which
volume some notices are given of this method of exploita-
tion (pp. 40-44).

It may be perceived that these regulations proceed
upon the assumption that the particular method of.
exploitation to which they refer was one well known,
which was the case, as it wasone which did not originate
with the Ordinance, but had been practised, long both in
Germany and France, though not so generally and exten-
sively as it was subsequently to the promulgation of this
Ordinance. To place the student of Forest Science of
to-day on something like the same vantage ground as was
enjoyed by those who some two hundred years ago were
so jubilant over this Ordinance, it may be allowed to me
now to supply some additional information in explanation
or illustration of exploitation according to the method
known as @ tire et aire, even at the risk of being accused
of repetition,

When the management of forests had commanded for
some time the attention of men of a scientific spirit in
Germany and in France, it was found that the long con-
tinued prosecution of Jardinage was diminishing the
products of forests and imperilling their continued exist-
ence, and there was introduced this method of exploitation.

The exact import of the designation I have endeavoured
in vain to learn. It has always been associated in my
mind with the English phrase—Cut and come again. In
the absence of information from French foresters and
French etymologists, I have been Jed to surmise that acre
may be an antiquated abbreviated form of avoir, and that
‘the phrase may have been designed to express the idea of
uprooting and yet possessing, of felling and yet having or
possessing—implying that though Jardinage might have
failed, this method of exploitation would succeed, in secur-
ing a preservation of the forests. The English colloquial
phrase I have referred to suggests itself to me, but it
does not express what is expressed in the French phrase,
148 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

It is more easy to make intelligible the treatment so
designated than it is to render in English the designation
given to it. The following may be taken as supplying a
rough and rude illustration of it in its application toa
coppice wood. If the coppice be one which may
.profitably be cut down every twenty years, by dividing
it into twenty equal or equivalent portions, and
cutting one, but only one of these each year, there may be
obtained a constant supply of wood, the division cut in the
first year being ready again for the axe in the twenty-first
year of the operation, and again in the forty-first year,
while the other divisions follow in their order.

This mode of exploitation has been extensively adopted
in the management of coppice woods in Russia, though
Jardinage is generally followed in the felling of timber.
I have found that there on many estates held by private
proprietors, there is carried out recklessly, and without
system, a succession of clearings in successive years—one
portion cleared this year, another portion next year, a
third portion in the year following. On other estates, in
connection with mining and smelting operations, a some-
what similar exploitation is carried out more systematic-
ally.

A similar mode of procedure has been adopted in several
of the Crown Forests. By Professor Sokanoff, who at the
time held the Chair of Forest Economy in the Forest
Corps at Lanskoi, near St. Petersburg, I was told when
there in 1873, that it was not uncommon, and it might be
considered the general usage, to fell the forest in long
strips of 50 fathoms, or 350 feet, in breadth, alternating
with strips of the same width on which the trees were
left standing to sow the cleared ground. Where wood is
scarce they clear these strips completely ; where it is
abundant they leave young trees unfelled to grow, or to be
destroyed in the removal of the others, as may happen ;
and when a new growth of trees has been fairly established
on the cleared strip, the strip of standing trees is cleared
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 149

if there be a probability of its being re-sown or otherwise
restocked et

A similar account was given to me of the cutting of
fuel for a smelting furnace in the government of Oren-
burg. Thirty years. was deemed sufficient for the repro-
duction and growth of the firewood, and the whole was
divided into thirty equivalent portions, each of which was
allotted for one year’s exploitation in the expectation that
in thirty years it would be reproduced. Strips were the
forms in which the several portions were laid out, and
these, so far as was practicable, were made to converge
towards the forge; and in felling each a strip was left
unfelled for the production of seed for the natural re-sow-
ing of the portion-cleared. My informant stated that the
strip left was either one-sixth or one-twelfth of the
breadth of the strip cleared—he could not recollect which.
I think it probable it was left at the side, and that those
of two contiguous ridges were contiguous, whereby they
might be conjointly one-sixth of the breadth of one cleared
strip, but one-twelfth of the two if the fellings did not
follow each other in due succession.

Advantages likely to follow such a method of managing
forests suggest themselves at once, and, as described, it
seems to be one which must be of easy application any-
where. But the practical forester who has given atten-
tion to my statement may have remarked that I have
used the expression equal or equivalent portions. Good
will result from the adoption of division into equal
portions—much good, but with a large admixture of evil.
Equal portions are not necessarily equivalent portions,
and such is the variation in the productiveness of different
portions of a forest, from variation in soil, in exposure,
and in adaptation to the growth of the kind of tree which
happens to be upon it, that it is very improbable that
many portions equal in extent will be equal in produc-
tiveness, if any at all happen to be so; and therefore the
division of a forest into equal portions will not yield
150 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

advantages equal to what would be obtained by the divi-
sion of the forest into what I have’ called equivalent
portions.

With the attempt to do this commences the difficulties
of the undertaking. Equivalent partitions cannot be
obtained by divisions founded on equality of superficial
contents, neither can they be obtained by divisions
founded on the number of trees growing in each, or even
on the cubic contents of these. The soil, the exposure,
the kind of tree growing in different localities, the adap-
tation of the soil and of the exposure to the growth of the
kind of tree, or of trees, growing in each, the age or ages
of these trees, the rate of their annual increase at different
ages, the age or ages at which they respectively attain
their maximum growth, and at which they attain their
maximum of value,-—these, and twenty other points, must
be determined to furnish the data necessary to determine
equivalent partitions; and such partitions are necessary
in order to ensure the full benefits of this method of forest
management being secured.

If by a tentative process, based on superficial extent, as
it necessarily must be, modified in accordance with the
number of trees, and with the cubic contents of these, it
be sought to arrive at a division of a forest into equivalent
partitions, it will be found that constant modifications of
the division first made are seen to be’ necessary. By
proceeding to the work of partition with an extensive
knowledge of the natural history of the trees on the
ground, of the process of tree growth, and of much per-
taining to meteorology, and geognosy relating thereto, the
work will be found to be more easy; but with all the
forest science which has as yet been secured, the work
must be to some extent tentative still; and this is
meal as a fact by the most advanced foresters of
the day.

Anil while this has been accepted as a fact, it has also
been found that divide the forest or coppice wood as you
may, you do not secure a sustained production through
FOREST EXPLOITATION. bi

successive cycles of the revolution or rotation of exploita-
tions. The second crop is not equal to the primitive or
original, nor the third to the second.

It is possible ofttimes to trace in the embryotic struc-
ture the rudiments of the organs of the fully developed
organism ; but how different are the appearances presented
by the two! How like, and yet how unlike, are the
Chrysalis and the Butterfly! Similar is the similitude
and the difference between the old system @ tire et aire,
and the new system of forest economy now carried out in
Germany and in France. I know not of aname by which I
can designate this for the purpose of contradistinction and
specification. To give it a designation from the name of
the country would be improper, inasmuch as while it is
carried out in both these countries, it is not peculiar to
either country alone. To. give it a designation from the
deviser would be premature, inasmuch as my readers are
not supposed to be familiar with its history, and even in the
ease of many of those who are acquainted with the history
of its evolution, to associate it exclusively with the name
of any one man would do injustice to others, to whom it
owes much. ?

There is in this system of management a three-fold
object sought, production soutenue, régénération naturelle,
and amélioration progressive ; not one or other but all of
these combined, and so combined not only that each shall
be secured without detriment to the others, but that all
shall be secured as the result of what may be done with a
special view to the accomplishment of any,—what is done
in view of all promoting each, what is done in view of
each promoting all: a combination of ends gained in the
accomplishment of one, such as is ofttimes seen in nature,
for example in the honeycomb, where economising . of
space, of material, and of labour, are so combined, that
apparently it may with equal propriety be described in
the same phrase, with either of these three ends treated
as if the one end in view. :

What: is sought is a sustained production throughout.a
152 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

period of indefinite, infinite, or perpetual duration—every
year, every four years, every ten years, according as the
case determined may be—giving an equal produce either
in quantity or in value, according as the case determined
shall be—equal to the maximum capability of the forest
—without diminution, periodical or permanent—and
without detriment to the forest—nor only this, but this
without diminution of the forest—trees as felled being
replaced by natural reproduction from self-sown seed, while
the reproduction of the forest and the felling of every tree
that is felled tends alike to the improvement of the forest
-—so that it shall ever be rising in value as its products
are withdrawn.

This is what is meant by sustained production, natural
regeneration, and progressive amelioration of forests. It
may be said, incredulously—If forest science, properly
applied, can do all this, it can work wonders: it takes
away one’s breath to read it! Well, such is the end of
forest economy as carried out in Germany and in France,
and it is there being accomplished ; nor there alone, but in
various other lands; and it is that apparent perfection of
forest management to which students of forest science
throughout the Continent of Europe are seeking-to bring
the wanagement of forests in the lands with which they
are severally connected. _

In the management of forests in the British dominions
in India this system of exploitation is being introduced as
fast and as extensively as money can produce the men
necessary tor the work, and as circumstances admit of free
action ; and I know of no physical hindrance to the same
thing being done in any of our colonies.

I have spoken of it as having arisen out of the adoption
in Germany and in France of exploitation in accordance
with the method known as a tire et aire; but it is now so
different from this that it requires separate notice, and
this the more that it is the method of exploitation now
everywhere in Continental Europe approved by students
of forest science. Details will be given; but it is expe-
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 153

dient previously to bring under consideration another
method of exploitation.

Section D.—‘ FURETAGE,’ AND ‘ TAILuis Sous FUTAIE,

Furetage is a method of exploiting coppice woods com-
posed of trees which reproduce shoots from the stump
freely, and can reproduce a wood or forest without the
aid of self-sown seed. It may be considered a modification
of Jardinage applicable to the exploitation of such trees,
though not to others; and the designation given to it in
contradistinction to Jardinage has been given from some
fancied ‘resemblance to that of a ferret ferreting out what
it is in pursuit cf, as the other designation has been given
in reference to some fancied resemblance to that of the
kitchen gardener in gathering his crops. But in practice
it is assimilated to La Methode @ tire et aire.

‘ Furetage, says the late Professor Bagneris, Inspector of
Forests, and Professor at the Forest School of Nancy, in a
work entitled Elements of Sylvicuiture,* ‘consists in cutting
the strongest shoots out of a clump, and in leaving the
weaker ones, The wood-cutter returns to the same place
every eight or ten years, and if the poies are cut at the
age of twenty-four or thirty years—(ce., if the rotation is
of twenty-four or thirty years)—the clumps are composed
of shoots of three different ages.’ It is a method of
exploitation applied chiefly to beech coppice wood.

The beech is a tree which is not well adapted for
exploitation as coppice; but it can be exploited thus
advantageously. There are in France about 100,000
acres of beech coppice, belonging for the most part to
private. proprietors. These are situated chiefly in that
part of-France formerly known as Morvan, on the Swiss
side of the Jura, and at the foot of the Pyrenees, and

 

* Elements of Sylviculture: a Short Treatise on the Scientijic Cultivation of the
Oak and other Hardwood Trees. Translated from the French by E. E. Fernandez and
A. Smythies, B.A., Indian Forest Service. London; William Rider & Son; Simpkin,
Marshall, & Co, 1882.
154 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

there they are frequently subjected to this mode of
exploitation.

An exhaustive article on the Furetage of the beech in
the Pyrenees, by M. E. Guinier may be found in the
Revue des Eaux et Foréts for 1883, (pp. 469-477, 527-541).
His object is to show how an improved modification of
this method of exploitation may remedy several evils, and
secure several advantages, in coppice woods, which are
thus treated; and in pursuit of this object he addresses
himself chiefly to the objections of those who are so satis-
fied with it that they are unwilling to make any change.
After discussing at considerable length much which is
involved in the failures which have followed this method
of exploitation, M. Guinier passes under review objections
which have been taken to any attempt to improve it, and
answers these seriatim, The objections thus treated are
following :— :

It is said (1) Furetage is excellent inasmuch as it ensures
the conservation of coppice woods; this has been estab-
He by experience: why seek for anything other than
it is

2. What is defective in Furetage lies not in the method,
but in the practice and application made of this; and
we ought not to hold the method responsible for abuses
which have crept into it in practice.

3. Furetage comprises a collection of harmonious rules
which have for their object to protect the interests of the
regeneration of beech copse woods, which is a complex
and delicate task ; it is impossible to condense these rules
into a formula—simple, brief, and precise, which may be
applicable without peril to innumerable cases in practice ;
it 1s, moreover, sufficient that the agents who have to
manage beech copsewoods should know the end they have
to keep before them; it is then for them, from the
resources supplied by their preparation and experience, to
find uut the means of accomplishing this applicable to the
circumstances of each case,
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 155

4. It should be borne in mind that treatment as a
timber forest is that alone which properly suits the beech,
and even the partisans of Furetage can scarcely consider
this method of exploitation as other than provisional, and
one which ought only to be applied pending the transfor-
mation of the coppice wood into. a timber forest, which
should be the end of all foresters, What good, then, can
be expected from seeking at great trouble to modify the
existing order of things?

Having replied to these several objections, M. Guinier
states what he has to recommend, premising, however,
that inasmuch as it admits the reservation of balliveaux, or
seed-bearing standards, it is questionable whether the
designation Furetage would still be applicable. And he
expresses a kind of preference for another designation: he
says:—‘I believe we must surrender the name. As a
matter of fact, the principle of Furetage is the removal of
the shoots which are ina dominant state and the constitu-
tion of a reserve taken, except exceptionally, from the
dominated shoots. And if we in principle prescribe the con-
stitution of a reserve,more or less abundant, chosen from the
dominating productions, we resume the principle of Zaillis
sous Futaie—copse as the under-growth of a timber forest ;
and whatever may be the proportions of the two consti-
tuents, a felling must present the aspect of one adapted
to that mode of growth.’ ,

In his treatise M. Guinier remarks that in view of the
principle underlying this method of exploitation it seems to
be a most certain and most simple mode of exploitation ;
but in practice it is not found to be so. He alleges that

from the first there do not exist the three well defined
divisions of shoots. He adds that in the mountains where
vegetation is slow the shoots of thirty years cannot be
distinguished from those of twenty years growth when,
by any means whatsoever, the full development of the
former has been impeded. The shoots of different divi-
sions often preponderate in some one or more positions
156 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

instead or being dispersed equally among the others; and
the removal of them occasions an unequal exposure of the
soil, and of the younger shoots, which is contrary to the
very spirit of Furetage; and further, from whatever cause
it comes about, there is a very great diversity in the
cubic measurement of the produce from exploitation in
this method, which has given occasion for incessant
modifications, and temporary suspensions of it, and for
discussions. From all which many have arrived at the
conclusion borne out by facts that it is a method of
exploitation which is uncertain in its results and ill-
defined.

In the Pyrenees the formulas laid down for direction
are very variable, and various. In some cases two periods
of exploitation are established, in other cases three; and
the prescriptions vary much with time and _ place,
According to some, it is required to cut all shoots of a
prescribed girth, and leave all others; and the measure-
ment varies considerably, According to another prescrip-
tion, all spreading shoots, all isolated shoots, all shoots
under a certain size, and all shoots bearing secondary
shoots of a certain size, should be reserved. But in the
application of the rule great diversities are seen. A
modification of this, determining more fully what shoots
are to be reserved, has been proposed, but again variations
occur in the practical application of this. For a time it
was customary to reserve from amongst the most vigorous
growing trees from fifty to sixty standards on every hec-
tare, but this was abandoned on the ground that these
standards were virtually bastard timber trees; and by
some there has been advocated the reservation of a certain
number of veritable balliveaua, trees reserved to supply seed,

By Professor Bagneris in his Manuel de Silviculture, pub-
lished in 1878, it is remarked that the coppice woods
treated thus were at that time little known, and had
perhaps not been sufficiently studied. Thus may the
diversities mentioned be accounted for,
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 157

With the explanations cited M. Guinier proceeds to
state what reserves he would propose. These are :—

1, Anciens ; Modernes; Balliveaua deVAge N., which are
designations given respectively to trees left after one
complete revolution of successive’ fellings; trees left after
two of these; and trees left after three or more, and,

2. All underwood composed of spreading shoots or
bushy suckers, and all shoots below a prescribed measure-
ment, at a height of four inches.

Several explanations and illustrations of what is meant
are given; and in regard to advantages to be secured, he
says :— These are the following—

‘1. Sufficient shelter, and this as complete as may be
required according to circumstances, is secured for the
stumps, by the reserving of underwood and balliveausx ;

‘2. The maintenance on the stumps (save with an
exception always restricted) of twigs belonging to the
underwood and the balliveaux, serving to keep up the flow
of sap ;

: 3. An advance of many years increase obtained by the
reserving of the underwood ;

‘4, The embroussailement of felling proper to prevent
damage done by cattle, and resulting also from the reser-
ving of the underwood.

‘ These are advantages which it is sought to secure by
the old method of Furetage, and they are common to both
methods; the following, on the contrary, pertain exclu-
sively to the new method, which is designed to accom-
plish, under like conditions, that in which the former is
defective and calls for reform.

‘5. The production of timber of large dimensions (if the
ground be suitable) which may be employed in industrial
operations.

‘6. The enrichment of the standing wood material,
and the progressive augmentation of the production ;

‘7, The production of natural sowings by means of the
seed cast abundantly by the reserves; and the amelioration
of the crop by the aid of natural reproduction ;
158 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

‘8, Preparation for a state of timber forest, by facilita-
ting the management required for proceeding promptly to
the transformation when the moment for this shall have
come ;

‘9, The application of treatment the most advanageous
under every point of view, to the beech coppice which.
cannot be converted into timber forest, be it on account of
economical considerations, or be it on account of the
poverty of the land.

‘Let us compare now the spirit of the method proposed
with that of the old system of /uretage, and cast a glance
at the general results of the two methods of procedure.

‘One can establish easily two essential differences,

‘In the old Furetage each shoot was considered indivi-
vidually ; and the necessary precautions were taken to
secure the life of the stump, and the prosperous growth of
the shoots to be obtained. Further, the shoots in a
dominant condition were exploited, and the dominated
shoots were reserved, awaiting the attainment by these
of a maximum of dimensions which was variable.

‘On the contrary, by the employment of the proposed
formula :

‘1. The consideration of each shoot separately is aban-
doned in favour of the consideration of the prosperity of
the crop ina mass. This method of looking at the sub-
ject is conformable to the modern and generally adopted
method of attending to the culture of woods, the prescrip-
tions of which relate to forest masses, and not to the trees
individually. It is thus in the manoeuvring of a corps
@armée, or of a battalion, or of even a platoon of soldiers,
the individuality of the soldier is effaced. Attention to
be given to the development of each subject pertains to
arboriculture, whilst it is the development of the forest
mass which is what pertains to sylviculture; no doubt the
forest mass is composed of trees, as the army is composed
of soldiers, and it is no more possible to lay down strictly
rules of sylviculture without taking into account the
requirements of the tree, than it is to determine the
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 159

mancuvres of an army without having regard to the
constitution of the soldier, to his strength, and to the
maintenance of his health. But it seems as unreasonable
to try to maintain any exploitation whatever without
risking the loss of some shoots, or of some trees, the
maintenance of which might be useful, as it would be
strange for a warrior to hesitate to lead a battalion under
fire, through fear that some men may be struck by the
enemy's projectiles. In our fellings under this modifica-
tion of coppice wood growing in a timber forest, what
imports it that some stumps here and there may die?
They will be replaced ten times, and a hundred times,
more abundantly by the natural sowings.

‘2. The exploitation does not relate any longer to shoots
in the dominant state, as in Furetage; and it does not
relate to shoots in the dominated condition alone, as in
ordinary coppice woods under timber; it relates actually
mainly to what is in the intermediate condition, and each
exploitation removes first what is in this intermediate
state, and then a portion only of what is in the dominant
state, consisting of abandoned reserves.

‘Is it further required to give the means of comparing
this modified Furetage with the old Furetage ?

‘It is clear that the first-mentioned method stands to
the second as Taillis sous futaie, coppice under timber, does
in relation to simple coppice; but the difference, it seems,
is more accentuated, as in simple coppice there are still
reserved balliveaux, or standards selected from amongst the
strongest shoots.’ :

M. Guinier discusses the matter in all its details ; and
he states at what places in France Furetage is practised,
and the extent to which it is there carried out. But upon
these discussions and statements I do not feel called upon
to enter.

In regard to Furetage, Professor Bagneris writes in the
work I have cited:—‘ It does not appear to us that this
method of exploitation should be generally adopted,
160 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

because, in the first place, it seems preferable to grow the
beech as.a timber forest,—and for private proprietors, who
possess forests of this tree, as coppice with seed-yielding
standards. If the standards are cut early enough, they.
will not injure the underwood they overtop, especially if
the rotation is sufficiently long, and they will shed seed
by which the growing stock will be kept full. Moreover,
although Furetage has hitherto preserved beech coppices
in a more or less satisfactory condition, it presents many
disadvantages. Thus it is exceedingly difficult to cuta
certain number of shoots in a clump without injuring the
rest ; and in any case the Jabour is more costly. Besides
this, cutting up the wood is not:so easy when the shoots
left standing are to be preserved from injury; and it is
necessary either tv remove the former on men’s backs, or
to allow carts to come in among the standing crops—a
proceeding which is necessarily productive of damage.’

M. Guinier may allege that he has devised a method of
securing the good without the evil. And I know of a
modification of Furetage similar to what he advocates
being carried out advantageously in the government of
Ufa, near the Ural Mountains in Russia.

In order to the full understanding of what has been
stated, there may be needed some knowledge of what is
called Tallis sous Futaie. Besides different methodes of
exploitation, there are different régimes of culture: there
is coppice culture, and timber culture, and there is a
culture of coppice wood in connection with the culture of
timber forests. This last is the régime referred to, and the
modified Furetage differs from the mode of exploitation
usually followed in Tazlls sous Futaie: being designed to
avoid some of the disadvantages attaching to this as well
as disadvantages attaching to simple Furetage. I have a
clearer conception of what is common to both than I have
of the points in which in practice they are essentially
different ; and yet I deem it of some importance here
that the coppice culture and management in question
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 161

should be known, As a precaution against my giving a
misrepresentation of it I shall cite an account of it given
in the Comptes Rendus de la Societe d’ Agriculture de France, in
a valuable paper On the disappearance of the. oak in the
forests of the north and. north-east of France, read before
the Society at a meeting held on the 17th April 1878, by
M. B. de la Grye, a Member of the Society.

The gradual, but steadily advancing disappearance of
the oak in the forests in that region of France, has been
observed and proved, and has been considered a serious
matter. M. dela Grye shows that it cannot be attribu-
table to any climatic change. He adverts then to the
different treatment given to coppice woods and to timber
forests; and he goes on to say :—‘ It is, moreover, not in

“the timber forests but in the copse woods that the dis
appearance of the oak has made itself conspicuous; and
it is principally in forests subjected to this mode of
treatment that it has manifested itself most distinctly.

‘There it is not difficult to perceive that the mode of
explcitation is sufficient to account for the progressive
disappearance of this tree.

‘ The exploitation of coppice woods consists, as is known,
in cutting down every ten years, fifteen years, twenty
years or more, the whole crop, saving some selected trees
destined to form a reserve. The reproduction is effected
by shoots from the stumps, and to some small extent also
by seeds produced by the reserves. The shoots proceeding
from buds are nourished exclusively from material stored
up in the stumps, and especially in the living portions of
these stumps; and the shoots or suckers will be more
vigorous in proportion as the stumps are stronger, and as
their ligneous layers still alive are thicker. :

‘Experience shows indeed that young stumps alone
produce vigorous and plentiful shoots; when the stumps
are old, and especially when they have become disordered
in their central parts—(a thing which cannot fail to
happen)—there is, indeed, a production of suckers, but
these quickly become pale, and they are not slow to dis-

M
162 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

appear. The reproductive power of the stump becomes
exhaustive of the reserve of aliment which they contain.
The shoots then come to be progressively weakened, and
the crops are not slow to disappear, if seed sowings do not
come to meet the deficit occasioned by the death of the
shoots; and here begins to appear what is the cause of
the disappearance of the oak. The seeds of the yoke-elm,
the seeds of the bois blancs [white woods—a designation |
given to alders, limes, poplars, and willows], and the seeds
of the maple are light; they readily disseminate them-
selves; the young plants which proceed from them are
robust, and can bear the shade. The acorns are heavy,
and the young plants of the oak dread the shade. Thus,
on the one hand, there is inferiority in the power of
dissemination, and a greater demand in regard to light;
while the secondary kinds of trees, on the other hand, are
more numerous, and easily stifle the young oaks under
their shade, and tend to substitute themselves for these.’

The author then adverts to the demand which there is
for oak-bark, and to the bearing of this upon the point
under consideration—the progressive disappearance of the
oak, At the risk of laying myself open to a charge of
wandering from my subject, I shall follow him, believing
that the information may not be unacceptable to some of
my readers. But before doing so, I remark that the seed
of the beech, of which alone it is that M. Guinier speaks,
‘is not so heavy as that of the oak ; it may, therefore, be
more extensively diffused, and the early growth of the
seedling may enable it to make good its footing where an
oakling might fail. M. de la Grye goes on to say :—

‘But that is not all, The oak is the tree which, of all
our indigenous productions, yields a bark the most suitable
for use in tanning ; everywhere where there are oak copse-
woods that are exploited with a view to the production of
bark. In order to this they are felled when the sap is in
movement—that is the month of May, and in order to

 
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 163

reduce the work at this period of pressure, there are
exploited in advance what are called winter woods. There
results from this practice from the first that the stump cut
in spring loses, through the escape which.takes place over
the large wound produced by exploitation, a great part of
the material which it held in reserve, which is exhausted
- by the month of August, when with the second sap there
are produced some buds destined to replace the felled
perches. Then the stumps of other kinds of trees, which
have not been subjected to this cause of alteration produce
shoots which have, over those from the stumps of the oak,
the double advaniage of being more vigorous, and of having
a start of some months. It is evident that these combined
causes must produce successively the disappearance of the
oak and the multiplication of other kinds of trees, This
is what experience establishes. On the more fertile soils,
where reproduction by seed goes on rapidly, the effect is
less rapidly produced than in dry and poor soils; but in
all forests treated as coppice the final result will be the
same, and this will be the replacement of the oak by trees
of secondary importance, or by heath plants.

‘Ts it necessary to conclude from this that the time has
come to renounce entirely the treatment of forest as copse,
or at any rate the treatment of them with a view to the
production of bark? That would certainly be an exag-
.. geration of the consequences of these observations. Private
proprietors can hardly afford to maintain timber forests ; _
and oak: bark is a product of such importance that it
would be difficult to give it up.

‘But every forest proprietor should be well assured that
the treatment of woods as coppice is a mode of treatment
altogether artificial, one incompatable with the perpetua-
tion of the crops, and one that cannot be maintained
excepting on condition of replacing in due proportion the
trees of which repeated exploitations occasions the death,
When through the exhaustion of the soil these replace-
ments become impracticable, and there remains but one
remedy, that is to abandon the régime of copse, and substi-
164 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY,

tute for broad-leaved trees resinous ones, which may grow
well on lands on which hardwood trees cannot live,

‘To avoid recourse to this heroic remedy it is necessary
to take care of the young seedlings, to clear the ground
about them some years after the fellings, to avoid as much
as possible late exploitations, and to cause the produce to
be brought out before the appearance of shoots, so as not
to compromise their future.

‘The impoverishment of woods treated as copse is
more speedy in proportion as the exploitations follow
after short intervals. We find hard trees, and notably the
oak, disappear more quickly in coppice woods felled every
twelve or fifteen years than in those the revolution of
which is fixed at twenty-five or thirty years; but to repair
the evil in woods already ruined it will not suffice to
prolong the revolution. In such cases it is to the replace-
ment of disordered stumps that the proprietor should
give his first attention; this he may accomplish by
replanting . after each felling, young oaks from the
nursery in the void places previously cleared of herbage
and dead woods, [a name given to the greater part
of shrubs which ordinarily indicate a bad state of the
forest, such as elders, hazels, cornels, privet, white byrony,
the spindle-tree, holly, thorns, junipers, &c.] If the ground
be poor and covered with heath plants, this indicates an
advanced state of impoverishment. These plantations
have scarcely any chance of recovery; it is necessary in
these cases to employ resinous kinds of trees which are
less exacting than the oak.

‘ Dis-barking by steam gives now-a-days the means of
abandoning felling during the flow of the sap without loss,
inasmuch as it permits of the dis-barking in winter of
wood recently felled. By proceeding thus, spring fellings
may be entirely abandoned, which is a condition very
favourable to the reproduction of shoots. Nothing is more
damaging, indeed, than the repeated passing of workmen
and vehicles through the midst of stumps covered with
nascent buds, It is desirable that the course of procedure
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 165

in question, which is eminently conservative, should become
generally popular, for it suppresses one of the most power-
ful causes of the disappearance of coppice woods.’

SECTION E.—EXPLOITATION ACCORDING TO ‘LA METHODE
DES COMPARTEMENTS.’

When we consider what might be accomplished by a
judicious exploitation of a forest carried on in accordance:
with La Methoe a tire et aire, contrasting this with conse-
quences which have. followed a reckless exploitation by
Jardinage, we need not wonder that the famous Ordinance
of 1669 should have been welcomed with delight, as it was
in many places, by foresters aud forest administrators and
forest proprietors. But even it did not ultimately produce
all the good anticipated from it. In principle i was
applicable to timber forests and coppice-woods alike; but
the latter, from the shorter period required for the period
of Yevolution, first made manifest that though it was based
upon a sound principle, there were contingencies against
which no provision had been made; and though complete
and perfect, so far as it went, it was not a perfect and
complete remedy for the evils complained of, or sufficient
to prevent the slow but continuous destruction of forests.
It was found that frequently the produce of the second
series of fellings was not equal to that of the first; and
the produce of “the third was frequently not equal to that
of the second. As a rough and ready method of producing ~
approximately an equalisation between what was pro-
duced and what was withdrawn, it was valuable ; and from
the middle of the seventeenth century till the close of
the eighteenth. century it was extensively practised. It is
still practised, with a little modification; and in the Ural
Mountains, and in the mining district adjacent, it may be
seen in operation.

By Parade it is remarked :—‘If this régime had not
entirely’ neglected to occupy itself with the conditions of
the natural reproduction of forests, it would have left.
166 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

almost nothing to be desired. What was expected from it
was that it would arrest the destruction of forests, and it
may have done so to some extent, but not to the extent
that was anticipated and desired. But the system of
exploitation devised by Hartig, a distinguished forest
official in Germany, and perfected by Cotta, his successor,
promised to accomplish all that was desired and more.’

One difficulty experienced in endeavouring to secure
this by exploitation according to the Methode a tire et aire,
arose from the varying productiveness of different portions
of the forest, and of different portions of the portion
allotted for being felled within any given period—a cen-
tury, a decade, or a year—arising from varying soil,
exposure, differences in the kinds of trees growing upon
it, and differences in the adaptation of the ground and
situation to the vigorous growth of the kind of tree con-
stituting the mass of the forest. Had in any case the
forest, or the allotment for felling in the course of a
lengthened period, been of one kind of tree, uniform in
vigour of growth, and in the provision for the continuance
of this, it might have proved a more successful method of
exploitation ; or if one could have selected, and placed
side by side, all plots uniform, or nearly so, in state and
prospect, and formed thus uniform allotments of consider-
able extent, many advantages would have thence accrued :
for even if it should have happened that one allotment for
felling within a given period proved either exceedingly
productive, or comparatively unproductive, the end in
view might have been gained by simply making the extent
of the area of different divisions laid out for exploitation
inversely proportionate to their productiveness,

But, with a full knowledge of the contents, conditions, and
areas of all the divisions of a forest, a chart might be pre-
pared in which all portions uniform in all conditions might
be indicated by uniform colours ; and then arrangements
might be made for exploiting all plots of one colour, as if
constituting one continuous wood, and all plots of another
colour as if constituting another, and all plots of a third
colour as constituting a third.
FOREST EXPLOITATION, 169

. This, of course, would be at once fatal to a side by
side continuously advancing exploitation, characteristic
generally of the method known as 4 tire et aire, but the end
for which that was enjoined would be gained.

There might at first be greater difficulty in bringing
out the produce; but that might be minimised; and
after one or two revolutions, the side by side progression
might be carried out on a more extensive scale in allot-
ting the allotments, if attention were given to the matter,
varying plots and allotments might be so assimilated as to
prepare them for a stricter application of the method
referred to, if this should still be found to be desirable. |

Such, in its general principles, was the innovation intro-
duced by Hartig, proposing to treat similar patches,
though separated from each other by portions of the wood
or forest differing greatly from these, as if they constituted
a continuous wood or forest, or as if only separated by
bogs, or rocks, or fruitful fields. And the principle once
admitted, it was found to be a method of exploitation
which would admit of great and important improvements
being made in the whole system. of forest economy. In
his work entitled Instruction in the Culture of Woods, there is
discussed by him at considerable length, the system of
a tire et atre, and the best method of so working the forests
as to procure the reproduction of these from self-sown
seeds, establishing an equalisation of produce and product,
and at the same time a progressive amelioration of the
forests, ensuring a more abundant and a more valuable
supply, be it of firewood, or be it of timber, according as
may be desired.

The publication of this work by Hartig was the com-
mencement of a new era in forest economy in Germany.
Hitherto all that had been attempted had been to secure
a sustained production of wood, now there was to be com-
bined with this the natural production of forests in such a
way as to secure the progressive improvement of the
forests in place of their continued deterioration. And
168 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

Hartig not only showed that this was practicable, but he
pointed out what measures should be adopted with a view
to its being accomplished.

The subsequent publication of a treatise by Cotta on
the fundamental principles of forest science, the first
edition of which appeared in 1804, carried still further the
improvement of forest economy.

A second edition of this work appeared in 1820. Mean-
while the work had been welcomed and studied in France,
as in Germany: for science, like the love of God, and the
light of the sun, and the air of heaven, is free and common
to men of all lands, to all who can understand, and appre-
ciate, and use it. And by the time the second edition of
the work had appeared, France was prepared to take up
the work free from the destraction of wars in which she
had been involved by the Revolution and some of its con-
sequences.

M. Lorenz, M. Parade, and’ others there, gave their best
attention to the work of improving the forest economy of
the day, nor did they do. this without honourable acknow-
ledgment of what had been done by German students of
forest science.

‘We, says M. Parade, speaking of his countrymen,
‘ preceded our neighbours in the establishment of a regular
and well-ordered management of forests, and in this we
have served them as a model; but in what lies in advance
of this they have returned with usury what from us they
received : more especially is this the case in the most
difficult and most important department of the work—the
management of timber forests,’

By M. Jules Clavé, in an article entitled Htudes d’ Econo-
mie Forestiere, which appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondis
for January 1860, it is stated that ‘Sylviculture, after hav-
ing had in France its brilliant epoch, remained stationary
during a quarter ofa century, in consequence of the political
events then engrossing the attention of all, but all the
while it was, advancing with giant strides amongst their
German neighbours. It had taken in Germany a firm
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 169

place en corps de doctere, Having there taken ces aplombs,
Germany became so much the sooner the beacon-fire and
guide of the administration of the management of forests,
that there the same men were engaged in the prosecution
of scientific research and in the management of practical
operations—a combination which unhappily existed not in
France in the last generation.’

All honour is due, and all honour was given, even by
those who might have been supposed jealous of their
success, to Hartig and Cotta. Before they entered upon
labours much had been done by students of vegetation
in France. Reaumur, Duhamel, Buffon, Du Petit Thouars,
Merbel, Richard, and Decandolle, are names never to be
forgotten. As has been intimated, the labours on which
they and others like them might have engaged success-
fully, were prevented by the commotions and wars conse-
quent on the Revolution in France, But work they had
accomplished was not all lost, and the German fathers of
the advanced forest economy of the day gave to the study
a new direction,

Captain Campbell-Walker, a distinguished official, occu-
pying a high position in the Forest Service of India, who
was selected to visit the forests of Germany and report,
and who was subsequently selected to visit more than one
British Colony to examine their forests and report what
might be done to secure the conservation and economic
exploitation of them, writes in his report on the exploitation
of forests in the method now under consideration :—

“Forestry in Germany is truly a science, and differs
very widely from anything I have seen called by the
same name either in India or England.. I do not advance
the theory that the German system is perfect or applicable
to all States or circumstances, and still less that we in
England do not grow as fine trees, or do not know how to
plant and rear young trees for timber. If any have
170 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

doubts on these points, I would point to the Swinley
Woods, under the charge of Mr Menzies, and portions of
the New Forest under Mr Cumberbatch, which may
challenge comparison with any ‘oak plantations of the
same age on the Continent; but I do think, and am sure
that any who have studied the subject, and made them-
selves thoroughly acquainted with it by personal observa-
tion, will agree with me, that, compared with most of the
German States, we are behindhand as regards the
systematic and scientific management of forests on a large
scale, and as a part of political economy to which it is
incumbent on a Government to attend. In fact, looked at
in this light, I venture to affirm that we are as far behind
Germany in the knowledge and applicatian of scientific
forestry as we are in advance with regard to agricultural
pursuits. ie, ben nts 7 ‘ ‘

‘The Government [of India] having granted, by the
gradual formation of a distinct forest service, the necessity
of establishing a system of forest conservancy, and
administering and working the forests by degrees on more
well-defined principles and to the best advantage, the
question naturally presents itself—Where are we to look
for a model or precedent on which to work? and the reply
appears ready. To Germany, where forestry, and par-
ticularly the management of forests by the State, has been
carried on for hundreds of years, not the mere planting
of a few hundred acres here, or reserving a few thousand
acres there, but a general system of forest management,.
commencing by a careful survey,stock-taking, definition and
commutation of all rights and servitudes, careful experi-
ments in the rate of growth, the best soil for each descrip-
tion of tree; in fact, in every brauch of the subject, and
resulting in what we find to-day in Hanover, for instance—
hundreds of thousands of acres mapped, divided into
periods and blocks, and worked to the best advantage
both with regard to present and future, and the annual
yield of which now and for many years to come is known
and fixed to within a few hundred cubic feet. . . . ,
FOREST EXPLOITATION, 171

‘I do not think we have much to learn from the
Germans with regard to the planting and rearing of
young trees, but it is with regard to the best methods of
managing groups of plantations or masses of forests that I
consider we may with advantage take a leaf out of their
book. For instance, I would certainly introduce in a ten-
tative manner, and at first on a very small scale, their
system of rotation, clearing, and periods, and endeavour to
bring forward a second crop before the first is off the
ground, encourage the growth of the better descriptions,
keep down the less valuable, and to improve our “ Planter-
betrieb,” or selection of single trees to be felled, so as
gradually to arrive at groups of trees of the same age,
description, and class, and eventually at blocks worked in
rotation, and containing always a sufficient stock of crop
coming on to meet the requirements of future years. To
arrive at all this the most careful observations and experi-
ments will have to be, made as to the rate of growth and
yield per acre of each description of forest, the condition
under which trees grow best and form the most timber,
some requiring close and some open planting, some nurses
and some not, some, like the oak, requiring a great deal of
light, whilst others, like the beech, do well for many years
in shade. All these points, and many more, demand atten-
tion, and till they are settled we shall be merely groping
in the dark.’

By Varrene de Feuille there had been supplied long
before, information in regard to the best means of obtain-
ing from a coppice wood the greatest possible quantity of
produce: and by implication how to obtain from a mixed:
wood the largest possible supply of firewood after having
provided for a supply of timber; or what may be con-
sidered the converse of this—how to secure from it the
largest possible supply of timber, together with the largest
possible supply of firewood. And by Reaumur information
had been supplied as to the best means of obtaining from
a timber forest the largest supply of timber of the best
172 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

quality. From biographies of Hartig and Cotta by Givin-
ner in Forstliche Mittheilungen, it is evident that the works
of Varenne de Feuille were not unknown to these distin-
guished foresters. A translation of some of the works of
Duhamel into German was published in 1763, from
which it may be inferred that works of the French students
of the physiology of vegetation were known in Germany
and valued there.

The Methode a tire et aire had been foreshadowed in a
system of forest management enjoinel on his forest
administrators by Count Mansfeldt in 1535. And as the
method of exploitation so designated may be considered
an evolution or development of this of an earlier date, so
may this La Methode des Compartements or Die Fachwerke
method, as it is called in Germany, be considered a further
development of that. What we owe to Hartig and Cotta is
that they, in their circumstances, as did the others in theirs,
made such an application of the knowledge in their posses-'
sion —partly inherited, partly acquired by them through
careful observations, and by experiments in which they were
aided by disciples whom they had fired with a like spirit—
as issued in the development of an improved forest
economy which commanded the approval of foresters in
their own day, and the adoption of their devices by others
to such an extent that forests which were going fast to
destruction have been saved; and not only men of our
own day, but generations yet unborn, are likely to reap
the benefit.

The exposition which has been given of forest exploita-
tion in accordance with La Methode des Compartements may
suffice to give some idea of the general principles upon
which it is conducted, substituting the exploitation of
divisions of the forest yielding equal or equivalent pro-
ducts, for the exploitation of areas of extent, in equal
periods. But while this is the principle upon which it is -
conducted, it is the case that in the application of the
principle to the exploitation of a forest there are many
FOREST EXPLOITATION, 173

things which may be taken into account with advantage
in determining what area shall be cleared in order to
obtain the products required, and, in determining this,
good use may be made of the observations of earlier
students of arborescent vegetation.

It has been found by observation that a tree does not
make equal increase annually throughout its growth ; that
it makes increase at one rate in early growth, at another
rate in middle life, and another after what may be called
its maturity ; that different kinds of trees vary, not only
in their rate of growth, but alsoin the ages at which these
changes in the rate of increase occur; and that the
increase varies with differences in- soil, in exposure, and
in climatic conditions. Estimates have been made of
how much increase by growth might be made by different
kinds of trees in different situations, and under different
conditions ; and of the ages at which different kinds of
trees variously situated, would, if felled, yield the greatest
quantity of wood. From these it appeared, to take an
‘imaginary case in default of an actual one, that in the
case of a tree which reached its maximum of growth at,
say 90 years of age, after which period the decay in the
course of a year equalled in quantity the new wood pro-
duced, and subsequently would exceed this, there might
be more wood obtained in the course of 180 years from
three crops felled at the age of 60 years than from two
crops felled at the age of 90 years; but that wood of more
value per cubic foot might be obtained by felling the
tree at the age of 100 years, than by felling it at an
earlier period of growth ; and that the age of the tree by
felling at which it would yield the greatesf pecuniary
return, taking into account interest and compound
interest, and the rent of the land, might, accordiag to
circumstances, be one or other of these ages, or might be
another age altogether.

And thus became known also the limit beyond which
fellings could not be practised without destruction to the
forest, and the ages of different kinds of trees at which
174 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

fellings should be made to secure in the highest degree
what was desired—sustained production of wood by the
forest, and a maximum of quantity, a maximum of profit,
or a maximum of value, in the wood produced.

These are only adduced as specimens of the kinds of
observations which have been made, accumulated, and
made use of in determining the most advantageous form
exploitation should take, and such observations are being
made still.

In connection with many of the Schools of Forestry on
the Continent of Europe there have been established
National Experimental Stations ut which, as at those con-
nected with Schools of Forestry in Austria, attention is
given to such matters—while at others, other matters
bearing upon the advancement of forest science, and of
forest economy, or applied forest science, are being
attended to, and subjected to experiment. Before the last
century had closed endeavours were being made in Ger-
many to turn to account discoveries of the kind indicated
which had been made; and early in the present century
great and rapid progress in this was made. The result of all
this has been such a development of the system of exploi-
tation carried on in sections of forest, that the produce of
the clearing of one section is supplemented by the produce
of thinnings in one or more others, these thinnings being
so arranged, in accordance with the knowledge which has
been acquired of the physiology of arborescent vegetation
under different conditions, as gradually to prepare each
section for being cleared, while, meanwhile the vigorous
growth of the standing trees in it is promoted by the
operation, and the continued growth of these trees is made
subservient to the growth of a succeeding crop of trees
produced from self-sown seed: all which is so arranged
that every operation of the forester within the area of the
forest upon which he is engaged shall tend to secure a
sustained production of wood, combined with a natural
reproduction of the forests, and an improved condition of
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 175

these, so that without present loss the forests shall be
handed down to coming generations undiminished in
body, and enhanced in value, if not also increased in
extent ; and to secure each of these as efficiently as if it
were the only object aimed at. Reference has been made
to the making of a honey comb as supplying an illustra-
tion of what 1s meant. In the honey comb each cell as
formed supplies by its six sides what is equivalent to
another cell—a sixth part of six others; and by its three-
sided bottom it supplies the third part of the bottom of
three other cells on another plane: parallel to this, on the
other side of the plane of the bottoms of the cell. By this,
then, there is secured a saving of space, a saving of material,
and a saving of labour as complete as if any one of these’
had been the sole aim of the artificer. So is it here: the
amelioration of the forest, its sustained production, and
its natural reproduction, are each of them secured as
efficiently from each action of the forester as it would have
been if this had been the sole object of his work.

But we have not yet stated all the pre-requisites of this
method of exploitation.

I have intimated that exploitation, according to ‘La
Afethode des Compartements may be considered to be only a
development of the method of exploitation known as La
Methode @ tire et acre ; but it is, as that statement implies,
the same with a difference. It is designated in Germany
the Pachwerke Method, in France La Methode des Compartt-
ments, and in some other countries the Scientific method
of exploitation, while in some countries I have heard it
characterised by a designation conveying the idea that it
is the rational, or most natural, method of exploiting forests
of great extent. And certainly, as carried out in some
lands, it goes (to make use of a school-boy expression) like
clock-work. 1t does so; but as it is the case that the
smooth movements and definite announcements made by
the clock are brought about by complicated machinery
each part of which is adapted to co-operate with adjacent
176 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

parts, and together with these, and with all besides, to
minister to the resultant end, so is it here; and in the one
case as in the other, there is much besides the result
obtained that is admirable in the adjustments by which
this is secured. The astronomer can not only tell what is
at present the relative positions of all the constituent
parts of the solar system; he can also foretell what their
relative positions will be at any time in the future which
may be specified. I have seen a railway chart, by a glance
_at which the directing engineer can tell what is, and what
at any hour or minute of the day will be, the relative
positions of all the regular trains under his charge. And
it is almost essential to the perfect working of the method
of forest exploitation now under consideration that the
Forester-in-chief, or some one connected with the adminis-
tration of the management of a forest, should be able to
tell what is the actual state of the forest in all its parts, and
what operations are going on in each of these,—but able also
to tell with proximate accuracy what will be the state of
each of these parts, and in what form different parts will
be under exploitation, at any period of the future, within,
say, the next hundred years! I have said with prowimate
accuracy, because there are contingencies the effects of
which, with the amount of knowledge yet attained, cannot
be determined with absolute precision. But every year's
observations tend to reduce the measure of uncertainty
which is still inherent in the forecasts made of the future,
more or less remote. Meanwhile requisite corrections
are made by what may be considered a tentative process,
determined by experiment and observation.

In the application to forest economy of the knowledge
which has been acquired in regard to the physiology of
arborescent vegetation, it is necessary, in order to securing
the greatest possible efficiency of this method of exploita-
tion, to have preliminary surveys made of the forest as a
whole, and of its several constituent parts, and to have the
results of these surveys embodied in charts or diagrams ; and
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 77

it is necessary, along with the charts of different sections, to
have inventories of the trees upon them, with specifications
of their kind, age, size, vigour of growth, and conditions
favourable to this, or otherwise with indications of the
extent to which these conditions are so. In making sub-
sections it is necessary to class together plots or parcels
which, at the time of exploitation, under one form or
another, will yield equivalent products, or products so
proportioned that the superabundance of those of one may
compensate any, deficiency in those of another; it is neces-
sary to bring all the trees growing on each plot into’as
nearly as possible a uniform state and size; to convert, it
may be, a coppice wood into a timber forest, or a timber
forest into a coppice wood, or a wood consisting of a
mixture of timber trees and coppice into one or other; or
to convert a coppice wood permanently or temporarily into
such a mixed wood; or, it may be, to bring a forest of
mixed woods of different kinds into plots or parcels more
or less extensive of one or other of the kinds of trees grow-
ing there.

Tn view of the whole case, with charts and inventories
before him, and a general knowledge of contingencies to
be anticipated, the forest engineer—it may be the
engineer-in-chief, it may be some one to whom he has
delegated the work to be done subject to his approval, it
may be some professional official in the office of the
Minister of State entrusted with the administration of the
forests—it might, for that matter, be some professor of
forest science and forest economy residing in another
land—has to prepare a general scheme of operations for it
may be a hundred years or more to come, divided into
definite periods, it may be decades, periods of ten years,
but generally it is periods of longer duration; a pro-
gramme of operations which it is proposed should be
carried through in the first of these periods; and a pro-
gramme of operations proposed conditionally for execution
during one or more of the periods following. In the pro-
grammes for single periods there are specified what plots
178 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

are to be subjected to such of the different thinnings or
fellings which have been referred to, with a statement
of what produce may reasonably be expected from each
operation, At successive stages of the work the results
obtained are compared with the estimates previously
formed of what they would be, and the programme may
then, if necessary, be modified.

Some time before the close of each period the pro-
grammes for succeeding periods are subjected to revision ;
and in view of actual results obtained, and of other con-
ditions which may have supervened, they also may be
modified, with provision for like revision, and, if necessary,
modification during its currency.

Such is the tentative process by which, in the present
state of forest science, the sustained production of forests
is secured. In all this much depends on the completeness
and accuracy of the inventories, and of the estimates pre-
pared of the cubic measurements of existing trees, and
of what these may reasonably be expected to be at any
specified period in the future. It does not come within
the scope of my purpose here to enter upon an exposition
of what means are adopted in the solution of such problems.
The object aimed at is to procure from the forest in each
period by first, second, or later thinnings and final clearings
of different plots, material equivalent to the increase made
in that period by growth; and not more than this that
the forest may be in no danger of being exhausted and
destroyed.

Besides the sustained production of forests which it is
sought to secure by exploitation in accordance with Die
Fachwerke Method or La Methode des Compartiments, is a
natural reproduction of the forests exploited.

Discussions have taken place in regard to the relative
advantages to be derived in this country from seeking the
restoration of forests by self-sown seed, and by artificial
planting. In the advanced forest economy of the Con-
tinent reliance is placed upon natural reproduction by
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 179

self-sown seed; and artificial sowing or planting is
employed only to fill spaces which may have been left
blank in this process, and in the creation of new forests,
as in the reboisement of mountains, or the fixing and
utilisation of drift sands.

To give full efficiency to the reproduction of forests by
self-sown seed, a succession of fellings is necessary; and
in these the most extensive felling is not the final one.
Besides balliveausx left standing when the principal felling
is made, to yield seed, and trees of greater age, destined
for prolonged growth to produce timber of greater dimen-
sions, there are left what is deemed a sufficient number of
trees to afford shelter and shade to young seedlings.
Subsequently some of these are thinned out, so as to leave
only what will suffice to afford for a time partial shade by
their shadows falling successively on different portions of the
ground as the day advances; and not until after the seed-
lings or saplings no longer require the fostering thus
afforded, does the final felling take place. Thereafter,
successive thinnings according to prescribed regulations
are made—all of which contribute to make up the quan-
tity of produce required in the periods during which they
occur. All of these successive thinnings and fellings are
designed for the improvement of the growing crop; and
that which clears the ground for the self-sown seed from
which is expected another crop, may be reckoned the
principal felling, to be followed by the final felling, when
the rising generation no longer requires the shade and
shelter of the older trees.

In arranging the order in which successive fellings are
to be made, attention has to be given to considerations of
how the produce may be brought out with greatest ease
and with least detriment to the standing crop, and how
growing crops may have secured to them, to as great an
extent as possible, protection from prevalent winds and
storms. In this matter the method of exploitation under
consideration does not stand alone; but with the greater
180 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

attention given in it to ultimate, and it may be distant,
results, this assumes in it greater importance than it does
‘in other circumstances and under other conditions.

By all of these measures conjointly and severally, and
by every operation pertaining to them, the forests are by
steady advance being brought into greater accordance
with what is required for the most efficient working of the
method of exploitation adopted, including uniformity of
vigorous vegetation and growth; and thus the amelioration
of the forests is secured as efficiently as if it had been the
only object for the attainment of which everything had
been done.

I have cited opinions expressed by Captain Campbell-
Walker in his Reports on Forest Management in Germany. In
a republication of this, he says of scientific forestry, such
as is practised in Germany :—‘ The main object aimed
at in any system of scientific forestry is, in the first instance,
the conversion of any tract or tracts of natural forest,
which generally contain trees of all ages and descriptions,
young and old, good and bad, growing too thickly in one
place and too thinly in another, into what is termed in
German, a Geschlossener Bestand (close or compact forest),
consisting of trees of the better descriptions, and of the
same age or period, divided into blocks, and capable of
being worked, ze, thinned out, felled, and reproduced or
replanted, in rotation, a block or part of a block being
taken in hand each year. In settling and carrying out
such a system, important considerations and complications
present themselves, such as the relation of the particular
block, district, or division, to the whole forest system of
the province ; the requirements of the people, not only as
regards timber and firewood, but straw, litter, and leaves
for manure, and pasturage; the geological and chemical
formation and properties of the soil; and the situation as
regards the prevailing winds, on which the felling must
always depend, in order to decrease the chances of damage
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 181

to a minimum; measures for precautions against fires, the
ravages of destructive insects, trespass, damage, or theft
by men-and cattle. All these must be taken into con-
sideration and borne in mind at each successive stage.
Nor must it be supposed that when once an indigenous
forest has been mapped, valued, and working plans pre-
pared, the necessity for attending to all such considerations
isatanend. On the contrary, it is found necessary to
have a revision’ of the working plan every ten or twenty
years. It may be found advisable to change the crop as
in agriculture, to convert a hard wood into a coniferous
forest, or vice versa, to replace oak by beech, or to plant up
(unter bau) the former with spruce or beech to cover the
ground and keep down the growth of grass. All these and
a hundred other details are constantly presenting them-
selves for consideration and settlement, and the local forest
officer should be ever on the alert to detect the necessity
of any change and bring it to notice, and no less than the
controlling branch should he be prepared to suggest what is
best to be done, and be conversant with what has been
done and with what results, under similar circumstances,
in other districts and provinces.’

In a paper read by him before the Otago Institute in
Dunedin, New Zealand, on December 21, 1876, entitled
State Forestry: its Aim and Object, he suys in regard to
the way in which operations are initiated in Germany and
France :—

‘When a forest is about to be taken in hand and worked
systematically, a surveyor and valuator from the forest
staff are despatched to the spot —the former working under
the directions of the latter, who places himself in commu-
nication with the local forest officer (if there be one), and the
local officials and inhabitants interested, and obtains from
them all the information in his power. The surveyor first
surveys the whole district or tract, then the several blocks
or subdivisions as pointed out by the valuator, who defines
them according to the description and age of the timber
182 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

then standing, the situation, nature of soil, climate, and
any other conditions affecting the rate of growth and
nature of the crops-which it may be advisable to grow in
future years. Whilst the surveyor is engaged in demar-
cating and surveying these blocks, the valuator is employed
in making valuations of the standing crop, calculating the
annual rate of growth, inquiring into and forming a regis-
ter of rights and servitudes with a view .to their commu-
tation, considering the best plan of working the forest for
the future, the roads which it will be necessary to construct
for the transport of timber—in fact, all the conditions of
the forest which will enable him to prepare a detailed
plan for future management, and the subordinate plans
and instructions for a term of years, to be handed over to
the executive officer as his “standing orders.” A com-
plete code of rules for the guidance of the valuators has
been drawn up and printed, in which every possible con-
tingency or difficulty is taken into consideration and
provided for. Having completed their investigations on
the spot, the valuator and surveyor return to head-quarters
and proceed to prepare the working plans, maps, &c., from
their notes and measurements. These are submitted to
the Board or Committee of controlling officers, who examine
the plan or scheme in all its details, and if the calculations
on which it is based be found accurate, and there are no
valid objections on the part of communities or individuals,
pass it, on which it is made out in triplicate, one copy being
sent to the executive officer for bis guidance, another
retained by the controlling officer of the division, and the
original at the head-quarter office for reference. The
executive officer has thus in his hands full instructions for
the management of his range down to the minutest detail,
a margin being of course allowed for his discretion, and
accurate maps on a large scale showing each subdivision of
the forest placed under his charge,’

With regard to measures adopted to secure natural
reproduction of exploited forests, he says :—
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 183

‘Natural reproduction is effected by a gradual removal
of the existing older stock. If a turest track be suddenly
cleared, there will ordinarily spring up a mass of coarse
herbage and undergrowth, through which seedlings of the
forest growth will rarely be able to struggle. In the case
of mountain forests being suddenly laid low, we have also
to fear not only the sudden appearance of an undergrowth
prejudicial to tree reproduction, but the total loss of the
soil from exposure to the full violence of the rain when it
is no longer bound together by the tree roots. This soil
is then washed away into the valleys below, leaving a
bare or rocky hillside bearing nothing but the scantiest
herbage. We must therefore note how Nature acts in the
reproduction of forest trees, and follow in her footsteps.
As Pope writes—

First follow Nature, and your judgment frame

By her just standard, which remains the same,

Unerring.
Acting on this principle, foresters have arrived at a system-
atic method of treatment, under which large tracts of
forest in Germany and France are now managed. The
forests of a division, working circle, or district, are divided
according to the description of the timber and the prevail-
ing age of the trees, and it is the aim of the forester
gradually to equalise the annual yield, and ensure its per-
manency. With this object, he divides the total number
of years which are found necessary to enable a tree to
reach maturity into a certain number of periods, and
divides his forest into blocks corresponding with each
period or state of growth. Thus, the beech having a
rotation of 120 years, beech forests would be divided into
six periods of 20 years each—that is to say, when the
forest has been brought into proper order, there should be
as nearly as possible equal areas under crop in each of the
six periods, viz., from 1 year to 20, from 20 to 40, and
soon. It is not necessary that the total extent in each
period should be together, but it is advisable to group
them as much as possible, and work each tract regularly
184 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

in succession, having regard to the direction of the prevail-
ing winds. When a block arrives in the last or oldest
stage, felling is commenced by what is called a preparatory
or seed clearing, which is very slight, and scarcely to be
distinguished from the ordinary thinning carried on in the
former periods. This is followed by a clearing for light in.
the first year after seed has fallen (the beech seeds only
every fourth or fifth year) with the objects of—1st, pre-
paring the ground to receive the seed; 2nd, allowing the
seed to germinate as it falls; 3rd, affording sufficient light
to the young seedlings. The finest trees are, as a rule,
left standing, with the two-fold object of depositing the
seed and sheltering the young trees as they come up. If
there be a good seed year and sufficient rain, the ground
should be thickly covered with seedlings within two or
three years after the first clearing, Nature being assisted
when necessary by hand sowing, transplanting from
patches where the seedlings have come up very quickly,
to the thinner spots, and other measures of forest craft,
When the ground is pretty well covered the old trees are
felled and carefully removed, so as to do as little damage
as possible to the new crop, and the block recommences
life, so to speak, nothing further being done until the first
thinning. The above is briefly the whole process of
natural reproduction, which is the simplest and most
economical of all systems, and especially applicable to
forests of deciduous trees. The period between the first
or preparatory clearing and the final clearing varies from
ten to thirty years, the more gradual and protracted
method being now most in favour, particularly in the
Black Forest, where the old trees are removed so gradually
that there can scarcely be said to be any clearing at all, the
new crop being well advanced before the last of the parent
trees is removed. This approximates to “felling by selec-
tion,” [Jardinage], which is the primitive system of working
forests in all countries, under which, in its rude form, the
forester proceeds without method, selecting such timber as
suits him, irrespective of its relation,to the forest incre-
FOREST EXPLOITATION. 185

ment. Reduced to system, it has certain advantages,
especially in mountain forests, in which, if the steep slopes
be laid bare area by area, avalanches, landslips, and disas-
trous torrents might result, but the annual output under
this system is never more than two-thirds of that obtained
by the rotation system, and there are other objections
which it is unnecessary to detail in this paper, which have
caused it to be rightly condemned, and now-a-days only
retained in the treatment of European forests under pecu-
liar or special circumstances.’

The application of this method of exploitation to artifi-
cial plantations appears to be no less satisfactory than it
has been to the exploitation of forests with a view to
secure a sustained supply of produce. I am not in a posi-
tion to form an opinion of the extent to which it is appli-
cable to British arboriculture, which has not for its sole
object the production of wood, or of a sustained pecuniary
return. Nor does it comport with my purpose to give
here a full detail of all the various measures which are
comprised within this method of exploitation. All that I
have proposed to myself to do is to supply an introduction
to the study of this. It is not impossible, and nct impro-
bable, that the study of this may suggest many things
which might be done with advantage without a formal
adoption in its entirety of this method of culture and
exploitation, What I do know is that it supplies a system
of torest economy such as is much needed in the treatment
of extensive forests in newly settled lands, or in the treat-
ment of State forests which have been impoverished and
are ready to perish in lands which have been long peopled
by colonists from other places.

The evil connected with the exploitation of such forests
by Jardinage, the method generally and extensively
adopted, is that this method of exploitation tends to
extend and increase that impoverishment, and to destroy
what yet remains of these.

Exploitation according to La Method & tire et aire is not
186 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

in itself sufficient to prevent this disastrous consequence.
But its development, Za Methode des Compartiments, with
its capabilities of indefinite improvement without change
of principle, seems to leave nothing more advanced to be
at present desired.

Puretage, in its most improved form, is applicable only
to coppice.
CHAPTER IV.
SYLVICULTURE

In so far as the modern scientific forest economy; of
Continental Europe may arrest the continuous destruc-
tion of forests, and secure their conservation, to the full
extent of that it has been a blessing to the world, and
may be considered to have done what was required in the
interests of the present and the future holders of this
portion of the national possessions in the lands in which
it has been adopted. But in connection with this, and
without detriment to it, with benefit on the contrary to
all concerned, something may be done to make this trust
estate more productive, and to add to it, by restoring
again to some extent what has been taken away effecting
thus the extension as well as the conservation and
improvement of the existing forests. And this is being
done by sylvicultural operations in various parts.

The term Sylviculture, with its synonyms in different
languages, is a term in as general use in discourse on
such subjects on the Continent as is the term Arboricul-
ture in Britain. In desultory converse the two words
may be used as interchangeable terms; but neither in
theory nor in etymological structure are they synony-
mous. The matters to which they respectively refer may
be said to differ as completely as do domestic and
political economy. The one relates to the culture of the
tree as a tree, the other to the culture of a wood, the
constituents of which are trees, as the constituents of
the tree are leaves and their rootlets, but having, like the
tree, a corporate existence asa whole. And the culture
188 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

of this may be as distinct, though not more so perhaps,
as the economy of a nation may be distinct from the
economy of the household. It may be considered that in
the one case, and in the other alike, what relates to the
whole relates to all its constituent parts; and it may be
alleged that sylviculture comprises arboriculture. I am
not disposed to question or deny the allegation ; I content
myself with remarking that arboriculture does not as a
consequence comprise sylviculture, and it is sylviculture,or
the culture of woods, comprising as this does the culture
of the trees of the aggregate of which the woods consist,
which is here brought under consideration.

The sylviculture of the Continent is practised with
different objects immediately in view; and with variations
in these it presents different phases. It is practiced most
extensively in connection with the management of exist-
ing forests. Information in regard to what is done in this
way may be obtained by English students from a treatise
entitled Elements of Sylviculture, by the late G. Bagneris,
Inspector of Forests, and Professor at the Forest School of
Nancy, which has been translated from the French by
Messrs Fernandez and Smythies, of the Indian Forest
Service.

But besides being carried on with a view to maintain-
ing and increasing the produce of existing forests, sylvi-
cultural operations have also been carried on; and that
upon an extensive scale, and with success, to counteract
evils which have followed the destruction of forests.
Sylviculture has been employed thus successfully to pre-
vent desolations occasioned by torrents and inundations,
Details are given in a volume which I have published
entitled Réboisement in France ; or Records of the Re-plant-
ing of the A He the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees, with Trees,
Herbage, and Bush, with a view to arresting and preventing
the destructive conseqnences of torrents.

It has been employed to arrest and utilise sand-drifts,
Details of some undertakings with this view are given in
SYLVICULTURE, 189

a volume I have published entitled Pine Plantations on the
Sand Wastes of France. A similar enterprise has been
carried out with success tn arrest drift-sands on the Ban-
nat in Hungary; and by similar means have been utilised
extensive sand plains in Northern Germany, details of
which have been given above [ante p. 120-131.] ©

It has been used on the Karst, in Austria, to counteract
aridity produced by the destruction of forests, and with a
like view it has been extensively introduced into Algeria.
On the steppes of Southern Russia it has been begun. And
in Spain, along with extensive irrigation works, including
canals, reservoirs, and artesian wells, there has been com-
bined with the conservation of existing forests the restora-
tion of blank spaces within their limits, and the extension
of forest areas by plantations beyond their boundaries.

In Italy it has been introduced with remarkable success
to counteract deadly malaria; and in more places than I
can name plantations have been created as a means of
securing supplies of wood and timber.

In the education, instruction, and training given to
aspirants for employment in the State forests of different
countries, special attention is given to this subject.

In the immediately preceding chapter some information
hoe p. 120-131] is given in regard to the culture of the
beech,

Like information in regard to the culture of the Mari-
time pine and Scotch fir is given in the volume entitled
Pine Plantations in France (pp. 36-50, 143-157, 100-142.)

It may be well to give an illustration of the instruction
given in regard to the botanical characteristics, the natural
history, and the appropriate culture of different kinds of
trees, in accordance with the advanced forest economy of the
the day. The following in regard to the black or Austrian
pine has been compiled from different sections of the Cours
elémentaire de Culture des Bois crée al Ecole Foreestier de
Nancy. ;

The Austrian black pine, Le Pin Noir of France, the
Pinus nigra of Linneus, the Pinus Austriaca of Hoss,
190 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the Pinus Laricio Austriaca of Endlecher, is, as is gener-
ally held, and as is indicated by the last mentioned
botanical designation, very nearly related, or, according to
some botanists, is a permanent varety of the Corsican
pine. In the Styrian Alps, in the mountains of Dalmatia
and Croatia, as well as in a part of Hungary, and in the
neighbourhood of Vienna, it forms considerable forests,
sometimes alone, sometimes mixed with the oak, the ash,
the Scotch fir, and the larch. During the last forty years
this tree has been much cultivated in Germany, and more
recently attention has been given to itin France. Its rapid
growth, the good quality of its timber, and especially its
hardy constitution, which permits it to thrive even in the
most arid calcareous soil, justify the favour with which it
regarded by sylviculturists.

Climate, Situation, Eaposure——The mountains where this
pine is indigenous range from about 800 to about 1000
métres in height. Itis also found at greater altitudes, but
with a visibly retarded growth. It also thrives on declivities
and plateaux, and all exposures seem to agree with it.

Soil—aAs already mentioned the Pin Noir, or black
pine prefers especially light, dry calcareous soil, however
destitute it may be of humus. This quality makes it very
suitable for the reboisement of bare rocks, provided that
there be fissures into which the roots can insinuate them-
selves. It will take root in earth which has fallen down,
in a landslip, even when there is little depth, without
seeming to suffer injury. Clay soils are not very suitable
for it; and damp soils are positively injurious to it,

Flower and Fruit.—Both resemble those of the Corsican

ine.
F Young Plants.—Are very robust from the first, and
fear neither cold nor heat.

Foliage.—The leaves are very close together, and they.
are of a dark green, and they remain on the tree for five
or six years. The tree having numerous bushy branches,
the shade is dense, and the soil is supplied with an abun-
dance of detritus,
SYLVICULTURE. 19)

Roots.—The roots are creeping and hardy, and extend a
long way. There is almost no tap-root.

Growth and Length of Life—The black pine grows
rapidly, and continues to do so until a very advanced age.
When circumstances are favourable, it will live for two or
three centuries, and attain a diameter of a métre or more
at the foot, and thirty or thirty-three métres in height.
Some authors have asserted that the trunk is rarely
straight. Zoetli, who for a long time superintended some
forests of Austrian pine, and has published on the subject,
does not speak of this peculiarity; and he considers the
black pine supplies excellent building timber.

Qualities and Uses.—As we have seen, the black pine is
much. esteemed in Austria for building purposes, and we
are assured that its durability equals that of the larch.
When under water, it is, so to speak, indestructible. It
supplies good firewood, and the charcoal is as valuable as
that of the birch.

Writers agree in saying it ought to be cultivated in the
same way as the Scotch fir. In the eighth edition of La
Culture des Bois, by Cotta, there are given the following
directions :—

In order that it may attain its full development of size
and qualities the Austrian pine should be subjected to a
revolution of from 120 to 150 years, according as it occu-
pies more or less elevated regions. In early youth it bears
the shade of large trees a little better than does the Scotch
fir, but in middle age it will not thrive where planted
closely together any more than will the latter, consequently
the ground is often covered with shrubs and thorns.

The coupes de regeneration should be executed in the same
way as in forests of Scotch fir,—60 or 80 reserved trees per
hectare will be enough for the coupes d’ensemencement,
Removing the thorns and ploughing the ground is very
useful in assuring the success of self-sown seed.

Les coupes damelioration, of which nothing is said in the
work quoted above, should be effected according to the
rules which have been given for forests of Scotch fir.
192 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

Being very resinous, it is often gemme. It is probable
that the twisted form of the trunk may be the result of
this practice rather than of a peculiar tendency in the
tree.

It is cultivated on the sand wastes of La Sologne,
together with the Scotch fir and the Norway fir, after the
so) has been previously prepared for this by the previous
culture of the Maritime pine. Detailed information in
regard to sylviculture in La Sologne are given in the
volume entitled Pine Plantations on the Sand Wastes of
France (pp. 69-80).

This tree was introduced into Britain in 1835. It is
propagated by seed, and grows on a sandy loam. But
mention is made of it here solely to supply a specimen of
the instruction given in regard to different kinds of trees
in Schools of Forestry on the Continent of Europe.
CHAPTER V.
STUDY OF PATHOLOGY.

WHILE sylviculture is based upon a knowledge of the
physology of arborescent vegetation, it is found to be
necessary to the attainment of the best results, that the
forester should have some knowledge of the diseases to
which different forest trees are liable—the nature, the
symptoms, and the causes of these; and to the study of
those great attention is given by the students of forest
science. ;

In the museum of the Prussian Forest Institute at
Eberwalde, the impression produced upon the mind of the
visitor is that there are there specimens representative of
every disease to which trees are heir, specimens exhibi-
ting the progress of the disease from the attack to the
consummation ; and hard by, the bark, the wood, the insect,
or the parasitic herb or fungus by which it has been
induced: the insect and the fungus being exhibited
under all the transformations through which they pass;
while specimens of the effects of lightning and other
physical causes of the decay or destruction of trees are
not alacking.

And similar collections sufficient to afford facilities for
the study of the diseases of trees, and of means of
preventing or of remedying the evils done are to be found
in many other similar institutions.

In an introduction to the study of modern forest
economy it is only an illustration which is called for, or
can be given. In selecting one I confine myself to a
notice of fungi infesting the Austrian or black pine, of
the culture of which some account has just been given,

Oo
194 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

Experimental stations have been established in connec-
tion with many of the Schools of Forestry on the
Continent. Amongst other subjects of investigation
undertaken by that in connection with the School of
Forestry established in the vicinity of Vienna, is the natural
history of the Austrian or black pine, Pinus Austriaca,
Hoess. And along with a monograph on this subject
issued last year [1883] there appeared from the pen of
Baron F, V. Thuemen the First Part of a Mycological
Report, under the title Beitraege zur Kentniss der auf der
Schwarzfoehre Vorkommenden Pilze; and a- résume, by the
author of that report, of the conclusions arrived at in
regard to the fungi infesting this tree, appeared in the
Centralblat Fuer Das Gesammte Forswesen, of which the fol-
lowing is a translation :—

‘In the study of these fungi great difficulty was
experienced from the lack of works supplying what might
be considered preliminary information; in the whole
range of literature at command there was found only one
reference to the subject, and this not in a German work,
but in one published in Denmark, where, within the
last ten years, amongst many other foreign trees, the
Pinus Austriaca has been experimentally planted on a con-
siderable scale. In consequence of this the work had to
be commenced a6 initio. To this in part,’ says the author,
‘may be attributed the very small number of fungi
described. But this is attributable in a higher degree to
the limited number of the parasitic vegetables which infest
this tree. It has but a small number of fungi to show
compared with the nearly allied species,—Pinus sylvestris,
P, laricio, P. Corsicana, and, if people will, also P. maritima,
It is especially deserving of notice that scarcely any of
these fungi which have of late years been declared and
acknowledged to be the cause of the appearance of the
most injurious diseases, and which have proved everywhere
so destructive to the common fir, have thus far, notwith-
standing the most careful search, been found on the
Austrian pine, Such are the Trametes pini, occasioning the
STUDY OF PATHOLOGY. 195

Rothfaule, or red-rot, of the fir; and the everywhere dreaded
Trametes raviciperda, attacking especially the roots, and
proving in the highest degree injurious ; and the Armillaria
mellea, the “ Hallimash,” with its rhizomorpha form. Should
these parasites not appear, and especially if they do not
come in great numbers to infest the black pine, then will
this tree be saved from one of the most dangerous assail-
ants of such trees; and its value and importance will thus
be greatly enhanced.

‘It may be also confidently affirmed that, so far as obser-
vation and experience goes, the black pine harbours
fewer parasites than do its nearest relatives; and of all
known conifers it is the poorest in fungi, and consequently
by far the most healthful. It would be too soon to pro-
nounce a definite cpinion in regard to the cause of this
remarkable and satisfactory fact. Probably several things
may co-operate simultaneously to produce this effect:
there is in all parts of the tree an extraordinary abundance
of resin ; there is a great deal of space between the trees
in a forest of black pine; and there is a consequent
exposure and desiccation of the soil, &e, The well-known
student of fungi, Baron von Hohenbuehl-Heufler, in
accordance with what has been said, says:—“A forest of
black pines is for the mycologist a Lasciate ogni speranza. voi
ch’entrate—Let all hope be left behind by him who enters
here.”

‘ Proceeding to the consideration of the different species
on which observations have been made, it may be premised
that the parasites as well as the saprophytes* were brought
under consideration; and this on the ground, on the one
hand, that our knowledge of the black pine fungi must be
brought fully up to the knowledge of the present day, and
on the other hand, because the cases are increasing in
numbers in which saprophytes, in the earlier stage of their

 

* Parasitic fungi are such as absorb their nutriment from living organisms, animal
or vegetable ; Saprophytes are those which find their nutriment in the remains of dead
organisms, or from organic compounds produced by living organisms.—J. C, B,
196 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

development, do damage as parasites to the plants which
supply to them a lodging place.

“The Peridermium pint, Lev., or Kiefern-blasenrost, and
the P. oblongisporium, Fuck., or Kiefern-nadelrost introduce us
to the kinds spoken of; both stand in the nearest relation-
ship to one another, and are treated by many students as
of the same species, A discussion of their specific charac-
ters would lead us too far at present; and the author
considers it preferable to treat them in his work as dis-.
tinct species. ‘The habitat of both is pretty well known
to every forester ; everywhere are they of no rare appear-
ance, both in forests of the white and of the black pine.
Only is injury done, or can be done, by the Kiefer-blasen-
rost, when it comes upon the branches or trunks. It killsin
young woods many young trees, and it produces rents in
the trunks of old pines, when it finds a home either within
or below the crown, producing the well-known appearance
of the Krebses or Kienzopses, The Coleosporium senecionis,
Lev., found upon different species of Senecio, it is generally
admitted, is a peculiar propagator of both species of Peri-
dermium, and no further investigation of the fact appears
to be necessary here ; nor is it necessary to discuss further
the innumerable well considered measures for the preven-
tion and destruction of this fungus which have been
proposed.

‘Postia (Polyporus) destructor, Thuem, the Zerstoerende
Loecherschwamm, vegetates abundantly on wood work in
dwelling-houses, damp cellars, stables, manufactories, old
palings, and especially on wood which has been for a long
time exposed to the influence of humidity. As it by no
means rarely grows in shady forests on the bark of firs,
pines, and black pines, and this not only when they are
felled or dead, the conclusion come to by some seems to
be justified, that the infection takes place in the forest ;
and that when, at a later time, the wrought wood comes
into an atmosphere heavily charged with moisture, with
limited access to the open air, the mycelia to be found in
the body of the wood produce a new fructification, The
STUDY OF PATHOLOGY. 197

biological development of this fungus also points to such
a conclusion. The developed fungus is found on the bark
of the tree ; through the bark it sends only single threads
of mycelium, but these become developed into large
skinny paperlike patches, measuring many centimetres ;
and by means of this subcortical growth the connection
between the ‘bark and the tree becomes extensively per-
foratel with holes; through these the moisture gains
access, and the bark soon crumbles off. Here the advice
may be given, keep a watchful eye open for the first
appearance of the postia in the forest, and remove as
speedily as possible any trunks seized upon by it, and get
these removed to a distance, and disposed of as firewood,
guarding strictly against their being used as timber or for
building purposes. ;

‘A very similar development in the wood is seen in the
Merulius seppens, Fr., Der Kreichende Holzschwamm, the
nearest relation of the dreaded Haussch-chwamm, Thus far
Positive observations are awanting, but in any circum-
stances it would be well that the practical forester
should keep a watchful eye upon this species, Analagous
are the relations between the Stereum pini, Fr., or Kiefern-
hartschiebe, and the Cenangium ferruginosum, Fr., or Rost-
braunen Leerschuessel—that is to say, there is a possibility
that eventually, in one of its development forms, it does
damage to the plant on which it has found a lodgement,
The investigations and experiments on this point have not
yet been prosecuted so far as to warrant a decisive state-
ment on the subject being given.

‘By far the most destructive of the fungi infesting the
black pine is the Lophodermium pinastri, Chev., the producer
of the Schuette. This species in its parasitic injurious
form, growing on the living leaves of the tree, has not as
yet been observed in the forests of black pine in Austria;
but it has been seen in Denmark, where, as has been
intimated, this tree has been largely cultivated. But on
dead leaves there, as everywhere, the species is known and
is common on all species of Pinus and of Picea. But
198 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

though thus far Austria has escaped a visitation of this
dreaded guest, it is felt that there is not the least reason
to suspect that it will be so always. ;

‘According to the investigations of Rostrub, in Denmark
(who for years, by commission from the Minister of
Finance, has studied profoundly the diseases of forest
trees in his fatherland), the course of the disgase is more
rapid, or more slow, according as the fungus infection
makes itself seen only in spots on the leaves, or as it has
found its way into the body of the tree. In the latter
case the further development advances in one or other of
two different ways—namely, first when the mycelium
penetrates to the topmost shoots, after which the tree
always immediately and completely dies ; or, second, when
the mycelium finds its way only into one branch after
another, mostly first into the youngest, the half-developed
or altogether undeveloped leaves of which soon assume a
brown colour, and within a short time the whole tree takes
on a white colouring. The mycelium (with the presence
of which in the body of the tree earlier investigators were
not acquainted), is at first entirely colourless; later, it
becomes brownish. It penetrates first of all the outer and
inner bark, but later it penetrates also the body of the tree,
and spreads itself at last through the entire organism.
After it bas pressed its way into most of the leaves, it
produces, often even in the year of its first appearance,
what are known as Spermogonia, or reproductive organs,
which everywhere break forth over the surfaces of the, by
this time, blanched leaves. So long as the Schuette-pilz
only records its presence in the first-mentioned way, while
it only comes upon single leaves, but does not seize upon
-the trunk and the branches of the tree, so long may the
black pine still continue in the fresh spring to develope
new leaves, and so for a longer time present the appear-
ance of a healthy tree. But when, by and by, the disease
gains the upper hand, and the mycelium once penetrates
into the branches, so that from a distance one can see the
state of the tree from the numerous brown coloured leaves,
STUDY OF PATHOLOGY. 199

ae a short time can intervene before the death of the
ree,

‘For a time, indeed, the still living tree, though greatly
reduced in strength, may put forth some desperate endea-
vours again to vegetate, during which it may bring forth
some abnormal short dwarfed branches, growing in what
may be called a rosette-like form, which, it may easily be
Imagined, take on a quite original and strange appearance ;
but even in this case, though the death of the tree may be
deferred for a short time, the lifetime of the tree is, and
always remains, more or less limited.

‘Of fungi doing but little injury, perhaps ultimately it
may be found to be doing neither good nor harm to the
trees affected by them, there are these—Phoma pinastri,
Lev., or Der Kiefern-pustelscorf, P. erythrellum, Thuem., or
Der Rothliche pustelscorf, and Leptostroma pinastri, Desm.,
or Der Kiefern-duennscheibling ; we consider that we may
pass over these without further notice here. But a few
words must be given in regard to another, the Cladosporium
fumago, Lk., or Russthau, although it also does but little
Injury. By the Russthau, as is generally known, is under-
stood the appearance occasioned by numerous fungoid
threads, which give to living plants, from trees and shrubs
of every sort, down to the most minute herbs and grasses,
and even to mosses, a look as if they were covered with
soot. Many investigators consider the fungi in question
as Saprophytes ; others, among whom we take a place, see
in them parasites, as observation shows that the appear-
ance of them is not necessarily preceded by that of honey-
dew (which Fleischman holds to be a regular precursor),
but the Cladosporium fumago especially can -vegetate with
extraordinary luxuriance without honey-dew. One may
therefore reasonably infer that the Russthaw fungus is a
parasitic organism, which, if it do possess no haustortum, still
finds nourishment from the plant on which it has found a
home; and which may therefure assuredly be reckoned
amongst the injurious species. It is especially the case
00 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

that the Russthau always comes upon the black pine with-
out any preceding honey-dew, and in so far as it is con-
cerned, it is a parasite and no saprophyte. The injury
done by it, however, is by no means great. One thing
which therefore appears of importance is that, as up to
this time no preventive or remedial measure has been
devised for this. often widespread epidemic producing
fungus, at least none applicable to it in the open air, it
must be left to jump about at its own sweet will, without
man being able to interfere to prevent it. i

‘The most remarkable fungus infesting the black pine is
one recently studied, and described in the reports on the
Vienna forest, the Coniotheca Austriacum, Thuem., or the
Austrian Staubhaufenpilz, Upon leaves still to a great
extent green and healthy, but partially of a yellow hue,
may be observed long patches, extending to the length of
a centimetre, dirty brown in colour, with well defined
edges, in the centre of which is found a correspondingly
long, and proportionally deep, hollowed dark-coloured
furrow. This furrow is for the most part filled with a dry
resinous substance, on the surface of which grows a fungus
mycelium, but neither on the bason nor sides of the furrow
are any traces of this to be seen. The resinous substance
is, probably through the combined influence of the atmo-
sphere and of the fungus, of a blackish colour; and it
exhibits growing spore-heaps on a poorly developed, creep-
ing, brown mycelium. The constituent spores or cells vary
in shape from a globular to a compressed elliptical form,
and in position from solitary ones, to an agglomerated
mass of numbers connected by short branching chains.
This fungus, easily distinguishable from other species, was
first discovered on sunny slopes not far from Liesing, in
Lower Austria. There were here only remains of a former
forest, consisting only of a number of decaying black pine
perches, of about the height of a man, sending out from
the ground shrub-like branches. The resinous furrows
were found sometimes at the bases, sometimes at the points,
STUDY OF PATHOLOGY. 01

of the leaves; but there was invariably only one on each
leaf. When the leaves, or at least a great part of them,
were yellow, then the brownish patches so apparent on the
green leaves were no longer to be seen, but instead thereof
the whole leaf had taken on a similar colour, from which
it follows that the disease in question, in a longer or
shorter time, causes the whole leaf to wither and to die.
The occasion of the appearance of the disease rests, in any
case, on insufficient nourishment bringing about a dis-
turbance in the vegetation, in which a rupture in the
cuticle and the adjacent cell walls takes place. These
latter are then also killed, and are absorbed in the exten-
sion of the brownish patches, and are intensely browned,
while simultaneously with the rupture of the epidermis
there occurs a great effusion of resin, which fills to the top
the aforementioned furrows. But from this it follows that
the origin of any disease appearing in connection with this
fungus, does not lie in it, or in any other parasite, but
must be considered a pathological incident. The Conio-
thecum must also be considered as only a pseudo-parasite,
which does not induce any injurious change on the tree ;
but which from the first settles down upon the resinous
secretion from a wound, when any such has been produced
by some foreign influence; and which also, when it has
taken possession of the whole surface of this, does not pass
on to the portion of the leaf surrounding it, but satisfies
itself exclusively with drawing its nutriment from the
resin: never is any trace of mycelium to be found in the
leaf. As, morevver, experiments in endeavours to infect
leaves with it yield nothing but a negative result, we may
with assurance advance the conclusion that whatever
appearances to the contrary may present themselves,
Coniothecum Austriaca is not a fungus injurious to forests.

‘We have, in this brief résume considered “only the
more injurious parasites, and this newly-discovered species
Coniothecum Austriaca ; all others being considered as Sap-
rophytes, up to the present time at least, we have passed
202 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

over. And thus has been made apparent how extremely
limited is the number of species of fungi which are destruc-
tive to the Austrian pine. Serious injury is done to it
only by the Peridermium pint and the Lophodermium pin-
astri, in so far as we have seen ; injury of lesser magnitude
and scarcely calling for consideration, is done by the
Peridermium oblongisporium and Leptostroma pinastri, and
also in the long run by the Phoma erythrellum and the
Russthau. With regard to some kinds, as for example, the
Hutpilsen, must the question in regard to injury being
attributable to them be left undecided. Notwithstanding
this, however, and considering that the most deadly malady
of all, the schutte, has not as yet shown itself on the black
pine in Austria, at this time the expression is quite justi-
fiable—the black pine is one of the healthiest of forest
Viel the land, and the one least injured by parasitic
ungi.

As has been stated in regard to the natural history and
culture of the black pine, it may be stated here tbat this
paper has been translated and inserted solely in illus-
tration of how the pathology of trees is studied by
foresters in connection with the advanced forest science of
the day.
PART I11

10:

FOREST ADMINISTRATION.

 

 

In all of the operations pertaining to forest conservation
and economic exploitation, to sylviculture and reboisement,
to which reference has been made in preceding chapters of
this volume, there may be traced a desire to secure for the
present and for succeeding generations the full benefit of
the usufruct without detriment to the inheritance, the use
of the forests without abuse or waste—literally, & tire et
aire,—to obtain from the forests, and use the full quantity
of their produce by growth within any specified period, a
day, a decade, or a century, but to leave the capital undimin-
ished. And the principle involved in the action taken in
the exploitation of the forest produce may be said to be :—
Ascertain what the produce by growth is; use it all, but
nothing more; make available all the information which
professional students of the matter have amassed ; if others
than they must have the administration of what is State
property, let the State administrators have the information,
counsel, and aid of such at command ; let nothing be done
at haphazard: and put a stop to all malversations and all
thieving; let all depasturing in the forests of flocks and
herds which might do damage to the trees, either young or
old, be stopped; and let all chance of fire be met with
precautionary preventive measures ; let all rights of usage
and servitudes be respected, but so far as possible let them,
by equitable arrangements, be extinguished; and let all
State forests be treated as a trust estate, honourably
managed, and made to yield to the generation in posses-
204 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

sion all the benefit possible, without detriment to those
who are to follow.
Such I understand to be the principles of modern scien-
tific forest economy followed on the Continent of Europe.
But this improved system of forest management cannot
be carried out without the assistance of men who are, by
education, instruction, and training, able to take into view
the whole case, with all its circumstances and all its con-
ditions. In France, the wasteful destruction of forests
which gave occasion for the preparation and promulgation’
of the famous Forest Ordinance of 1669, was consequent
on the administration of the State forests by so-called
noblemen and ecclesiastical dignitaries of high position ;
and it was traced to a great extent to their malversations,
peculations, and illegal exactions. Amongst those who
were found guilty of these were monks and bishops, sieurs,
barons, marquises, and at least one duke, a peer of France,
Procureurs de Rot, lieutenant-generals, superintendents,
and at least one Grand-master des Eaux et Foréts, the head
of the staff. And some idea may be formed of the magni-
tude of the malversations committed by them from the
penalties to which these officials of high social position
were subjected: besides restitutions, pecuniary penalties
to the amount of 275,000 livres were exacted. All the
officers and officials of Mouliere had to demit their offices,
and they were declared incapable of holding any office, or
discharging any function in the forests of the king; one,
an official of a contractor, was ‘condemned to do penance
in his shirt—head and feet bare—a rope round his neck,
followed by the public executioner, and holding in his
hand a torch two pounds in weight, before the gate and
principal entry of the Palais Royal of the city of Poictiers,
and to be banished for ever from the county of Poictou
and Guyenne. A sergeant of the forests of the province
of Alenson was condemned to the galleys ; and the Master
des Eaux et Foréts of Epernay was condemned to death.*

 

i tae are given in French Forest Ordinance of 1669, with Historical Sketch, Le.
p. 13-34).
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 205

Tn England it has long been the practice for nobles and
princes of the Royal family, and sovereigns, to be
appointed rangers of the Windsor Forest; and for well
nigh half a century the office was held by the famous
Duchess of Marlborough. She held the office from 3702,
when she succeeded the Earl of Portland, till her death in
1744, eighty-four years of age if not more, setting the
Court at defiance in a very termigant fashion. She was
succeeded by William, Duke of Cumberland; by Henry
Frederick, Duke of Cumberland ; by King George III. ; by
King William IV.; by the late Prince Consort; and by
H.R.H. Prince Christian.* And in British Colonies, as at
the Cape of Good Hope, the practice of appointing district
magistrates and civi] commissioners to be conservators of
forests, and field-cornets to be forest warders, has loug been
the practice,

The existence of gross abuses in the management of Crown
woods and forests of England, similiar to what prevailed
in France well nigh 200 years before, was brought to
light by evidence collected by a Committee of the House
of Commons in 1848 and 1849, and printed by command
of the House. Cases of reckless waste in the exploitation
of forests in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and
of depredations which should not have been tolerated,
came under my notice, and were reported by me to the
Executive and the Legislature, in a Memoir on the Conser-
vation and Extension of Forests as a means of counteracting
the disastrous consequences following the destruction of bush
and herbage by fire, appended to the Report of the Colonial
Botanist for 1863; in Memoirs on the Forests and Forest
Lands of South Africa,and on ‘The Forest Economy of the
Colony, abstracts of which were appended to the Report of
the Colonial Botanist for 1866 ; and in evidence given by
me before a Select Committee of the Legislative Council
of the Cape Colony, appointed 14th August 1865, to con-
sider the Colonial Botarist’s Report; and after I had left

 

* See Forests of England in Byegone Times (p. 98).
206 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

the Colony similar evidence was collected by a Commission
appointed by the Government.

With the introduction of exploitation of forests accord-
ing to Die Fachwerke Method—La Methode des Compartiments
—it was found expedient to modify considerably the
arrangements existing in some countries for the adminis-
tration of State forests; to educate, instruct, and train
men specially for the conservation, exploitation, and
extension of forests ; to provide appropriate salaries for their
remuneration ; and to give to Ministers of State entrusted
with the administration of State forests the command of
the advice and service of these educated foresters, And
to provide instruction and training for these educated
foresters, Schools of Forestry have been established in
almost every country in Europe. In a notice of this fact
which appeared some time since in the Times, it is
stated :— ,

‘So much interest has been excited by the recent cis-
cussions on the subject of forestry, and by the fact that
England alone of all European nations possesses no School
of Forestry, that the following résume of those now in
operation on the Continent may be useful. Austria heads
the list with nine schools—viz., the Imperial High School
of Agriculture and Forestry at Vienna, with six professors
and 329 students; the Eulenberg School, with six profes-
sors and 50 students, the course lasting two years; the
Weisswasser School, with five professors and 80 students;
the Lemberg School, with 12 professors and 40 students ;
the Aggsbach School, near Melk, with two professors and
24 students; the course of forestry in the technical high
school of Gratz; the Styria Forest Culture School, with
three professors and 26 students; the Carinthia School ;
the Vorarlberg School. Prussia has three institutions,
commencing with the Royal Forest Academy at Neustadt-
Eberswalde, with a director, 14 professors, and other assis-
tants. The course is 24 years, and the number of students
‘about 57, The Miinden Royal Forest Academy has a
FOREST ADMINISTRATION, 207

director, 10 professors, and 78 students. The Forestry
School at Grosse-Schénebeck and the forestry courses to
the Army Forestry Battalion are for the training of lower
forestry officials. At the former school are four professors,
at the latter eleven, all of them practical foresters.
Saxony has an excellent forest academy at Tharand, with
ten professors and assistants. In Wurtemburg instruction
is given at the Royal Agricultural Academy at Hohen-
heim and at the University of Tiibingen. In Baden the
forestry department of the Carlsruhe Polytechnic has 40
students. Bavaria has a forest academy at Aschaffenberg,
with a director and seven professors, in addition to which
are six chairs of forestry in the University of Munich;
Hesse-Darmstadt has a forestry institution attached to the
University of Giessen ; and Saxe- Weimar has possessed onc
since 1808, with a director and four professors, In Swit-
zerland the department of forestry forms the fifth division
of the Federal Polytechnic School at Zurich, in which are
30 students. France possesses a School of Forestry at
Nancy, and one of forest guards at Barres, in addition to
several agricultural schools and agronomic industrial
schools, in which forestry is taught. Russia has four
schools—viz., the Agricultural and Forestral Academy at
Petrovsk, near Moscow, the Agronomic Institute at St.
Petersburg, with courses in sylviculture ; the Forest School
at Lissino, and the Forest Division of the Agricultural
Institute at New Alexandria. There is an Italian School
of Forestry at Vallombrosa; a Spanish School of Forest
Engineering at San Lorenzo del Escurial, near Madrid; a
Danish school, attached to the Royal Veterinary and
Agricultural College at Copenhagen; and a Swedish
forest institute at Stockholm, besides 13 private elemen-
tary schools. In the United States forestry is taught in
the State Agricultural College at Lansing, in Michigan
State, which possesses a good labelled arboretum and a
large collection of native and exotic trees under cultiva-
tion. Great Britain alone, which needs more attention
than any country in the preservation of what forests she
has left, possesses no school whatsoever.’
208 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

The education, instruction, and training given in these
Schools of Forestry is of the most comprehensive character,
being unsurpassed in this respect by any arrangements for
professional studies in Britain. In illustration, I might
cite at haphazard the published programme of study at
any one of them. I take that of Spain.

In Spain the School of Forestry bears the designation
La Escuela Especial de Ingenieros de Montes (The School of
Mountain Engineers). In France not a little has been
done by les [ngénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées (or the Engineers
of Roads and Bridges), in carrying out, in connection with
officers of the Forest Service, the reboisement of the
mountains, or the replanting of them with trees, &c., with
a view to arresting and preventing the destructive conse-
quences and effects of torrents. The designation of the
Spanish School of Forestry indicates that something
similar to this is the main and the special duty of the
corresponding body of engineers in Spain. Their duties
relate primarily and especially to the creation rather than
to the exploitation of forests. The school is located in the
old palace of the Escurial. It is under the control of the
Minister of Instruction ; and it is regulated under a decree
issued under date of 24th October 1870. Under a pre-
vious decree, of 23rd October 1868, the prescribed course
of study embraced a period of three years, By that now
in force the curriculum has been extended to embrace a
period of four years.

In order to gain admittance to the school, the applicant
must be accredited by certificates or diplomas of having
passed an academic examination in the following subjects,
—Spanish grammar, Latin grammar, geography, and the
general and detailed history of Spain; and he is admitted
only after passing, with approval, an examination in the
school on the elements of natural history, the elements of the
theory of mechanics, descriptive geometry and its applica-
tion to projections and to perspective, physics, chemistry,
lineal, topographical, and landscape drawing, and his
knowledge of the French and German languages.
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 209

_ Every year there are issued programmes specifying the
subjects on which applicants for admission must be pre-
pared to be examined. According to the programme for
the year 1877, the one I happen to have before me, the
preliminary entrance examination through which applicants
must pass embraces amongst others the following sub-
jects :—Theory of mechanics; the general principles of
statics, and their application to the determination of the
centre of gravity; the general principles of dynamics,
including inertia, momentum, reaction, vital force,
movements of points and movements of bodies under
varied conditions, and the establishment of equilibrium.
Descriptive geometry; its application to projections
and perspective, embracing points, straight lines, circles
and planes, triangles, polyhedrons, sections and inter-
sections of these, tangents, cylinders, cones, lines of
revolution, involution, plane and conic sections, the
projection of shadows, and the geometrical laws of per-
spective. Physics: properties of bodies, gravity, specific
gravity, characteristics of solids, of liquids, capillarity, gases,
atmospheric pressure, elastic force of bodies, flotation, and
temperature. Accoustics: propagation of sound, and
distinctive characters of sound. Heat: expansion of
bodies in a solid, a liquid, and a gaseous state, and
operations by which it is affected ; hygrometry, and trans-
mission of heat. Optics: propagation of light, photometry,
reflection from plane and curved surfaces, refraction and
dispersion of rays, structure of the eye, optical instruments,
double refraction and polarization of light. Electricity
and magnetism : static electricity, distribution by conduc-
tors, measure of electric force, magnetism, dynamic elec-
tricity, electro-magnetism, electro-telegraphy, thermo-
electric currents, electric induction. Meteorology: ther-
mometrical observations, winds, aqueous phenomena,
electric phenomena, Juminous phenomena. Chemistry :
chemical notations, combining proportions, theory of
chemical equivalents, specific heat, atomic theory, metal-
loids and their more important compounds, other elemen-
P
210 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

tary bodies, the more important combinations of hydrogen,
combinations of oxygen with other quasi-elements, fluorate
of silica, carburetted hydrogen, cyanogen, general proper-
ties of metallic and other salts, special study of the more
important metals and their compounds. Natural history:
distribution of existing bodies in groups and kingdoms,
distinctive characteristics of species of organs, apparatus
and functions, mode of studying minerals and determining
their production, composition, and importance, crystallo-
graphy; classification, nomenclature, and chemical pro-
perties of minerals. Botany: structure and forms of
vegetables, organs of vegetation, roots, stems, leaves, with
their variation and arrangement, and effects of this on
ramification; flowers, inflorescence, calyx, corolla, stamens,
pistils, and ovary; fruits, seeds, vegetable physiology,
nourishment and growth, reproduction, classification, and
specification of properties common to classes of plants.
Zoology: difference between animals and vegetables,
animal structure, organography, and physiology; classifi-
cation proposed by Cuvier and modified by Milne Edwards ;
characteristics of mammifere, with description of the prin-
cipal families of rodents, of pachydermata, and of rumin-
ants; characteristics of birds, and description of the
principal families of gallinaceous, of wading, and of web-
footed birds; characteristics of fishes, and description of
the principal families of soft finned fishes; characteristics
of the principal families and the more remarkable genera
of the coleoptera, of the orthoptera, hymenoptera, and
lepidoptera; and the geographical distribution of animals,
with causes influencing this,

On these subjects the candidate for admission is
examined before he can enter the school. He is free to
pass through these preliminary studies when he pleases,
and there are specified works on the several subjects,

‘from which information preparatory to examination may
be obtained.

It is stated that in the examination in drawing there
will be required manifest facility*in copying correctly an
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 211

order of architecture, or a machine: some model drawing
of a landscape in Les Htuds @aprés Nature, by Calame, and
a pen-and-ink representation of mountains, sands, rocks,
and arable land, according to the method of Rindavets.
And in French and German are required correct transla-
tions from these languages into Spanish.

Application for admission must*be made previously to
the Ist of September in any year.

It is not requisite that the applicant should be
examined in any one year on all of the subjects embraced
in the entrance examination, and he is required to specify
those on which he desires to be examined. If he pass
any examination with approval, this will be certified, and
when he has been examined in all with approval he will
be admitted, and enter on the special studies of the
school, which embrace the following subjects :—Physical
geography, land surveying, mensuration of wood, applied
mechanics, applied chemistry, applied mineralogy, applied

botany, applied zoology, applied geology, laying out of
forests, sylviculture, meteorology, and climatology ; moun-
tain geography and classification of mountains ; forest
industries ; political economy, with a special reference to
its application to forest questions; elements of the
administrative direction of forest management; and
drawing in its application to the course of study
required.

For conducting these studies there are appointed a
director, who is head of the school ; nine professors, of the
body of engineers; two assistants, who must also be
engineers ; and to these are joined the following subordi-
nates :—A collector, preparer, and conservator of objects
of natural history; an official assistant secretary; an
official assistant librarian; two clerks; a steward; a
resident in charge of the school forest; a porter; three
servitors ; necessary warders and subwarders for the pro-
tection of the land and mountains appropriated to the
service of the school ; and labourers and peasants required
for work on the same.
212 MODERN FOREST ECOMONY.

The instruction is given (1) by oral lectures and lessons
in drawing by the professors; (2) by written exercises,
calculations, and analyses on the subjects embraced by
these lectures ; (3) by the detailed study of the animals,
rocks, plants, and forest products which constitute the
collections and adjuncts of the establishment; (4) by the
practice of topography, land surveying, the study of
natural history and of mountains in the field; (5) by
excursions to the plantations and mountains.

The school sessions extend, with specified holidays,
from the 1st of October of one year to the 31st of May in
the year following. Field exercises are included in this
session; but according to what may be required in
different classes these may be extended over the months
of June, July, and August.

The material provisions for study are specified as con-
sisting of the buildings, lands, forests, nurseries, gardens,
and their dependencies ; appropriated to the school is a
meteorological observatory ; the furniture of the institu-
tion, a library and collections of charts and drawings; a
laboratory and cabinet of chemistry, with apparatus and
re-agents ; collections and museums of topography, land
surveying, and cabinets of illustrations of natural history,
of mountains, of mechanics, and of forest industries; the
collection of iron implements employed in the practical
working of the school lands or in the study of the pupils ;
herbaria and collections of plants and of fruits; and in
conclusion, the workshops and machinery, with all the
iron tools belonging to these, and the equipments and
arms of the warders and dependents.

The students do not live in the school. Each is
required to lodge his address with the secretary of the
school, and to keep him informed of any change of resi-
dence made by him. They are required to supply them-
selves with all text-books, mathematical instruments,
wtiting and drawing implements, and the uniform
enjoined upon students; but beyond this I know of no
pecuniary charge made upon them. Regular and
FOREST ADMINISTRATION, 213

punctual attendance, studious attention, and respectful
and orderly behaviour are enjoined.

Occasional absence, even with consent of the instructor,
want of punctuality, inattention, &c, are punished by
deductions from the numerical value attached to the
attendance required in order to obtain a diploma at the
close of the course; disobedience, insubordination, &c.,
are punished by expulsion or suspension till the decision
of the Government is obtained.

The programme of study in the School of Forestry of
Spain has been taken by me—I may almost say at hap-
hazard—from among a dozen of others in the bookcase
before me. Almost any one would have given correspon-
dent results. The following are several at command for
comparison wherein they differ :—

In The Schools of Forestry in Europe: a Plea for the Creation
of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretum at
Edinburgh, are given details, more or less explicit, of
arrangements at Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, pp. 13-16; at
Schools of Forestry in Russia, pp. 17-22; in Stockholm,
pp. 28-29; at Nancy in France, pp. 30-45. In The
Journal of Forestry, vol. i., is given information in regard to
the course of study followed at Hohenheim in Wurtem-
burg, pp 81-87; at Carlsruhe in Baden, pp. 394-898;
and at Evois in Finland, pp. 545-557, 701-707. And in
regard to this last additional details are given in Finland :
us Forests and Forest Management, pp. 147-174.

In accordance with the academic attainments of which
such a course of study and such examinations can
guarantee is the status assigned to forest officers, They
take rank with military men, and other Government
officials of recognised social position; they have an official
uniform; and in one country at least they draw a higher
salary than that accorded to military men of corresponding
rank, which higher salary may be some compensation
for the monotonous life they lead in the forest, while the
Pld MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

military man has access to the gaities of city life, and the
excitement of the military station.

The depressing influence of continuous life in the forest
is, I have been told, very considerable—day after day,
month after month—trees, trees, trees everywhere —trees
and shade, trees and shade-—-shade which reminds one of
the expression the valley of the shudow of death. In most
if not in all of the Schools of Forestry the students are
trained in the. use of the rifle. At one institute I asked
why this was done seeing that the students would be
exempt from military service. The answer was ‘ partly
to enable them to shoot game for the maintenance of their
household ; but also partly to fit them for finding relaxation
in the chase, when they may feel lonely in their forest
home’

In accordance with the salary and social position
assigned to forest officials on the Continent is the salary
assigned to officials in the forest service of India, and in
that of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope and other
British dependencies.

Amongst Hebrew apothegms which have come down to
us, there is one to the effect, There ts that scattereth, and yet
ancreaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet,
and it tendeth to poverty ; and another to the effect, The
liberal heart deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall 1
be established, or stand. Illustrations of large returns having
been obtained from liberal expenditure judiciously applied,
is supplied by the history of forestal operations in India
during the last five-and-twenty years. Reference has
been made [ante p. 39] to distress having been occa-
sioned in India through a great destruction of wood in
connection with railway operations there, when these were
begun. The consideration of this gave a great impulse to
a movement which had previously been initiated to secure
the conservation and extension of woods in different parts
of India. Interesting and valuable information in regard
to this, and to the earlier operations, is supplied in a
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 215

volume entitled The Forests and Gardens of South India, by
Hugh Cleghorn, M.D., F.L.S., Conservator of Forests,
Madras Presidency, published in 1861. Subsequently, the
operations in question came extensively under the direc-
tion of Dr Brandis; and through his exertions arrange-
ments were made to get aspirants for employment in the
Forest Service of India trained at one or other of two
Schools of Forestry in Hanover and France; and liberal
arrangements were made for meeting the expense of the
training and the remuneration of such. The expenditure
became very great, but so did the returns.

The following will show what are the requisites for
employment in the Forest Service of India :—

Under date of July 1872, were published the following
particulars respecting the selections of candidates for
nomination to junior appointments in November 1872, in
the Forest Department in India:—‘An examination will
be holden on the 18th day of November 1872, and following
days, to select five young men, ¢f so many are found duly
qualified, to be trained in France and Germany for the
Forest Service of India.

‘Applicants must be natural born British subjects, above
17 and under 23 years of age on the 18th of November
1872. They must be unmarried, and if they marry before
they leave this country for India, they will forfeit their
appointment as Junior Assistants. :

‘They must send to the Revenue Department of the
India Office, on or before the 14th of October next—

‘1. Their names and parentage, a certificate, or other
satisfactory evidence, of their birth, and, if under age, a
statement of consent from parents or guardians,

‘2. A statement of the places of education at which
they may have been since they were nine years old,
accompanied by testimonials of good conduct during the
last two years, and proof of their having attained a certain
standard of proficiency in the following branches of know-
ledge :—(1) English writing from dictation, and English
216 MODERN FOREST ECOMONY.

composition. (2) Arithmetic in all its branches. (3)
Algebra, elementary principles, simple and quadratic
equations, ratios and proportions, logarithms, arithmetical
and geometrical progression. (4) Geometry (Ist, 2d, 3d,
4th, and 6th book of Euclid), and Plane Trigonometry.
(5) Freehand drawing. (6) A good colloquial knowledge
of French or German, with the facility of translating from
one of these languages. :

‘A preference will be given to those candidates who, in
addition to the above, show proficiency in surveying and
land measuring; and in the elements of mechanical and
natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, geology, and
mineralogy, and in plan drawing.

‘They must appear personally at the India Office on the
18th or 19th of November next, between the hours of 11
and 4,

‘As active habits and a strong constitution are most
important, such applicants as are admitted to be candi-
dates will be directed to appear for medical examination
before the Indian Medical Board.

‘Those who are passed by the Board will be examined
on the 21st and following days in the various branches of
knowledge mentioned above, by the Civil Service Com-
missioners.

‘The regulations above stated are liable to alteration in
future years ; but no candidate, in this year, or hereafter,
will be chosen who does not come up to the requisite standard of
proficiency in each of the prescribed subjects,

‘From among the candidates who attain this standard,
Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India will select those
whom he deems best adapted to the Service.

‘The rules and conditions under which candidates for
the Forest Service in India will in future years be selected
will be notified hereafter.

‘The candidates accepted by the Secretary of State
must undergo a regular course of training of two years
and a-half in the management of forests and the science
of forestry, in surveying, rond making, and the natural
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 217

sciences. For this purpose, those candidates who possess
a sufficient knowledge of German will be directed to pro-
ceed to Germany ; while, for those who pass in the French
language, the course of training will be in France, if the
state of affairs in that country admits of their being sent
thither. Until such time, they are to understand that
their appointments may be kept in abeyance, or that they
must subject themselves to such other training in this
country or elsewhere, as the Secretary of State may
direct.

‘The course of training will commence on the Ist
March 1873, and end in the autumn of 1875.

‘During the course of training the candidates will be
expected to conduct themselves throughout in a proper
and gentlemanlike manner, to obey the injunctions of the
officers and’ professors appointed to instruct them, to use
due diligence in the practical work and in their studies,
and zealously to improve every opportunity for learning
that may be offered them. Candidates who do not con-
duct themselves in a proper and gentlemanlike manuer,
or do not show satisfactory progress in their studies, will
be removed from the list of candidates on the report of
the officer intrusted with the general direction of their
studies.

‘After completing the course prescribed, an examina-
tion will be held by the officers and professors intrusted
with the instruction of the candidates. Those who give
proof of a satisfactory progress in the subjects in which
they have been instructed will be nominated Junior
Assistants in the Forest Departments in India.

‘According to the estimates framed, the cost of this
training will not exceed £500. This sum will, it is
believed, cover the cost of board, lodging, and instruction
for the whole term of two years and a half.

‘To those candidates whose progress and conduct are
satisfactory, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State engages to
pay a stipend at the rate of £50 for each half year. This
Stipend will ordinarly be paid half-yearly, on the recom-
218 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

mendation of the officer intrusted with the general direc-
tion of the studies and training of the candidates; but
the periods of payment may vary according to circum-
stances. In the case of those training in France, the first
payment is usually made after eight, instead of after six
months. One half of the stipend, or £25 for each half
year, will be retained for payment of the fees and
remuneration to the appointed Instructors.

‘In the interval between the conclusion of the course
of instruction on the Continent and the departure for
India, the candidates will be required, if they have not
had the opportunity of doing so before, to pass some time,
probably not less than a month, with one or more approved
foresters in Scotland.

‘Within a month of his nomination as Junior Assistant,
each nominee must sign a covenant, in the form appended
hereto, describing the terms and conditions of his appoint-
ment; and he must embark for India when required to
do so by the Secretary of State, who will provide for the
expenses of his passage. Any nominee not embarking
when required will forfeit his appointment. Otherwise he
will be allowed pay at the rate of 250 rupees (which is
about the equivalent of £25 in English money) a month,
from the date of his signing the covenant.

‘On arrival in India, the nominee will be required to
report himself to the Government of India (or to the
Government of Bombay or Madras, in case he should be
sent to one of these Presidencies), and he will then be
posted to such part of the forests as the service may
require.

‘The salaries of the appointments in the three Presiden-
cies range between £300 and £1,900 a year. Promotion
to them will depend upon efficiency, and the occurrence
of vacancies.

‘On reaching the place to which he may be appointed,
the nominee will become entitled to all the rights and
privileges, in respect of pay and promotion, accorded to
officers of the Forest Department by the rules and regula-
FOREST ADMINISTRATION, 219

tions for the time being, and to leave of absence and
retiring pensions under the leave and pension rules of the
Uncovenanted Service for the time being. No rise of
pay or promotion will, however, take place before he has
passed an examination in such one of the native lan-
guages as may be prescribed by the Government under
which he is serving.

‘There will be another examination for five candidates
in November 1878, when the present system of training
for the Forest Department in India will come to an end.’

In the statement issued in 1867 it was prescribed :—
‘Those of the candidates who will be selected by Her
Majesty’s Secretary of State for India must agree to
undergo a regular course of studies and training of three
years and a half in the natural sciences, in the practice
and science of forestry, and in those branches of surveying
and engineering required for the profession of a forest
officer in India. The first, or purely scientific part of
this course of training will take place in Great Britain ;
for the second part, comprising the instruction in forestry
and the subjects immediately connected therewith, arrange-
ments will, for the present (until an efficient forest school
in Great Britain or in India shall have been established),
be made on the Continent, that is, in France for those
candidates who are sufficiently acquainted with French,
and in Germany for those who are familiar with the lan-
guage of that country. One year and a half is assigned
to the first or purely scientific part, and two years to the
training in forestry and the subjects intimately connected
therewith. The following are the arrangements to be
followed by candidates, but Her Majesty’s Secretary of
State reserves to himself the right from time to time to
make such alterations in the course of studies and training
as may be expedient.

‘The studies of candidates during the frst or scientific
part of their training shall comprise the following sub-
jects :—
230 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

‘I. Mechanical and Natural Philosophy.—The
elements of mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, optics,
heat, climate, rainfall, and the first elements of elec-
tricity and magnetism.

‘II. Chemistry. Inorganic. — The non-metallic
elements and the principal metals. Organic—Ele-
ments only, with special reference to the chief con-
stituents of the vegetable and animal organism, the
chemical principles of the process of nutrition and
of respiration in plants and animals. Fermentation,
decay, putrefaction, destructive distillation.

III. Botany.—Characters of the principal European
natural orders. Ability to describe any common
phaenogamous plant of ordinary structure, systema-
tically and with accuracy, from a living specimen.
The elementary facts referring to the development
and nutrition of plants.

‘IV.—Geology.—Elementary portions of descrip-
tive geology.

‘V. Either the French or the German language.
Good colloquial knowledge, with the facility to read
and translate into English easy passages taken from
the works of some classical writer.

‘Candidates are at liberty to choose the place of study,
but they must, before being admitted to the second or
practical part of instruction, pass an examination before
the Civil Service Commissioners in the branches of science
and in one of the languages enumerated above. This
examination will be held in July or August 1869, and
the candidates must, on the day previous to the examina-
tion, report themselves at India Office, and produce testi-
monials from the professors or masters under whom they
have been studying.

‘Candidates who fail to pass the examination in sciences
and one of the languages at the close of the first year and
a half, may continue their studies for another year but
they will not be allowed to present themselves more than
twice for this examination.
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 221

‘Those candidates who fail to satisfy Her Majesty’s
Secretary of State that they have attained a sufficient
proficiency in the subjects mentioned wiil be removed
from the list of candidates.

‘Those candidates who, from previous study, feel them-
selves competent to pass the second or scicnce examina-
tion at the same time as the first, or examination for
admission, will be permitted to do sv, Application for
doing so should be made by them when sending in their
papers and testimonials.

‘Candidates who have taken academical degrees or
honours in science and mathematics will, wholly or par-
tially, be excused from the examination of admission, as
well] as the examination in sciences, and only be required
to furnish proof of a sufficient knowledge of German or
French. Candidates who have passed any examination
requiring a sufficiently high standard of proficiency will be
excused examination in those branchesin which they have
been previously examined. Her Majesty’s Secretary of
State for India will determine how far the certificates of
candidates may entitle them to exemption, either entire
or partial, from examination.

‘It is very desirable that candidates should, before pro-
ceeding to tbe Continent for their professional training
devote two months to a practical apprenticeship with an
approved wood manager or forester in Scotland. Early
spring is the best season of the year for this purpose. A
certificate of their having done so will entitle them to a
stipend of £20, to be paid in case they pass the science
examination.

‘ The course of training in forestry abroad will commence
on the Ist September 1869, and be concluded on Ist
September 1871.

‘The following arrangements have been made for those
candidates who are qualified in French, They will pro-
ceed to Paris and report themselves at the “ Direction
Générale des Foréts.”. The months of September and
October will be spent in a forest district for preliminary
222 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

practical training. By the lst November they will pro-
ceed to Nancy, where they will be received as students at
the Imperial Forest School, and pass through the regular
biennial course of studies, practical exercises and periodi-
cal examinations, with the French students. The whole
expense of their residence in France has been estimated
at 800 francs per month, or £144 per annum. The
instruction is gratuitous.

“No entrance fees are paid at the schools. A small
remuneration may have to be paid in additioa to the
above sum for the preliminary practical training.

‘Those candidates who possess a sufficient knowledge
of German will proceed to Hanover and report themselves
to Mr Burckhard, the director of forests in the former
kingdom of Hanover, who will undertake the general
direction of their studies and practical training.

‘During the first year the candidates will be placed
with an executive forest officer in charge of forest district
(Oberforster), where they will serve their apprenticeship
in the practical work of a forester, and at the same time
receive instruction in the science of forestry. The direc-
tor will from time to time see them, and they will occa-
sionally accompany him on his tours of inspection.

‘During the second year the candidates will live at
Hanover, where they will continue their studies in the
different branches of the science of forestry, as well as in
surveying and engineering, in so far as may appear
requisite for a forest officer in India,

‘They will occasionally accompany the director, or
others of the principal forest officers, on their journeys of
inspection, and will from time to time be sent to different
forest districts, to become acquainted with the different
kinds of forests, and the various methods adopted for their
management. Should such hereafter appear expedient,
the time assigned to Hanover may be spent at a forest
school, as may be arranged by the director.

‘The whole cost for maintenance and instruction during
their studies in Germany has been estimated at 100
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 223

thalers per month, or £180 per annum. This includes all
remuneration paid for instruction,’

Such were the arrangements at the time specified. They
are substantially the same still. By many it is held and
argued that an equally good appropriate and efficient
education, instruction, and training, might be obtained in
Britain, if there were established a School of Forestry in
connection with some one or other of our existing educa-
tional institutions; that this might be done at much less
expense ; and that probably an expenditure not exceeding
what is at present incurred in the European preparation
of candidates for employment in the forest service in India
might, if judiciously applied, cover the whole expense of
maintaining such. a school for the instruction of candidates
for employment in the forest service of India, and the
forest service all the world over. But at present we have
only to do with the expenditure which is at present
incurred.

A large measure of the expense of the education of the
officials is met by Government; a larger measure of the
expense of outfit and passage to India is met by the
Government; and their salaries, exclusive of allowances,
range, as has been stated, from £300 to £1,900 a year.

The expense has been considerable, but the results have
justified the steps taken. By progressive amelioration of
their condition, forests in India have risen greatly in value
and they have been vastly extended, and the revenue from
them has been increased apparently by hundreds of thousunds
of pounds. According to Resolution of Government of India,
Financial Department, No. 2012, dated 11th March 1871,
the latest to which I happen to have access, the estimated
charges for the following year 1871-72, as settled in the
Public Works Department, and as modified in the Finan-
cial Department, were 45,11,000 rupees (£451,100), and
the receipts, 57,382,200 rupees (£573,220), showing a
surplus ot revenue over expenditure of 12 21,200 rupees
224 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

(£122,120.) I learn that in the year 1873-74 the forest
revenue was £700,000, and the expenditure £414,000
odds, leaving a surplus of £285,000, both revenue and
expenditure being about double what they were in 1874-65,
ten years previously. All which had been accomplished
not by an impoverishing of the forests, but by a pro-
gressive amelioration of these, and an increase of their
pecuniary value in something like a corresponding ratio.

In illustration of this latter allegation, I cite the
following statement, made by Captain Campbell Walker,
in the paper On State Forestry: its Aim and Object, read
Le the Otago Institute, Dunedin, 21st December,
1876 :—

‘The Chunga Munga plantation, in the Punjab, has an
area of 7,000 acres, commenced in 1865, contains chiefly
Indian blackwood (Dalbergia sissoo.) The expenditure up
to end of 1873 had been £26,000, including £5000 spent
during the first five years in unsuccessful experiments;
£5000 had been received from petty thinnings (firewood
and minor produce, grazing dues, &c.) From a careful
valuation, and calculations made in 1873, it is estimated
that the expenditure up to 1881, when the capital account
closes, will be £97,000, and the value of the plantation be
then £170,000. In considering the above results, it must
be borne in mind that the rainfall in the district is under
15 inches, with great heat in the summer, and sbarp
frosts in winter. The whole plantation has to be irrigated
from a neighbouring canal, being debited with a charge of
4s per acre per annum for the use of the water alone.
Another important fact must be mentioned, viz., that,
whereas the land on which the plantation stands was
formerly almost valueless, and would not fetch an annual
rental of 2s per acre; 12s, or even 20s per acre is now
readily obtainable, and the former has been offered for the
whole or any portion when cleared. The rents mentioned,
of course, include the water-rate of 4s per acre per annum,
This plantation is intended eventually to cover 30,000
acres, and will undoubtedly prove a great success, both as
FOREST ADMINISTRATION. bd5

regards direct financial profit, a supply of timber or fire-
wood, which is much required, improving the soil, and
rendering it fit for cultivation with cereals, and ameliora-
ting the climate. The Nelamber tea plantations, in
Madras Presidency, cover 3000 acres, the oldest portion
having been planted thirty years ago. The total expendi-
ture, including purchase and lease of some 19,000 acres of
land from a native raja, has been £30,000, and the receipts
from thinnings &c., £10,000. These plantations were
valued last year at minimum rates at £150,000, and Col.
Pearson, lately officiating as Inspector-General of Forests
in India, estimated their value, when mature, at no less
than two millions sterling’

CONCLUSION.

It may be that some of my readers, and others who
have not read, but only glanced at the preceding pages,
may be ready to say,—This is not the kind of Introduc-
tion to the Study of Modern Forest Economy which we
expected; and it may be so. Disappointment may be
expressed and felt that little or nothing has been said
about sowing, and transplanting, and pruning, and thin-
ning, and felling, and cutting up, and transplanting, and
selling, and the economic applications which are made of
forest products. Such is the case; and one very simple
reason for this may suggest itself: These operations,
‘though carefully studied and treated of in the Modern
Forest Science. upon which Modern Forest Economy is
based, are by no means peculiar to this; they pertain to
Arboriculture as well as to Sylviculture; there is no lack
of information in regard to all of them in volumes appro-
priated to the special discussion of them, and it is not an
exclusively Arboricultural Exhibition to which those for
whom this volume has been prepared have been invited ;
but an International Forestry Exhibition, and in view of this
it has been prepared. Therefore have the subjects treated
of been brought under consideration, and not those others

Q
226 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

to which aJlusion has been made, the importance of which
is fully realised.

The Exhibition having been designed by its promoters
as a means of ‘promoting a movement for the establish-
ment of a National School of Forestry in Scotland,’ this
has not been lost sight of in the compilation of the
information embodied in the volume. And it is hoped
that, while the possession of this information may enable
readers of these pages to look more intelligently upon
many of the objects which may be exhibited, it may
prompt them to aid in the accomplishment of the ulterior
object of the promoters of the Exhibition.

At a meeting of the Society of Arts, held on the Ist
March 1882, a paper On the Teaching of Forestry was
read by Colonel G. F. Pearson, resident at Nancy to
superintend the education there of candidates for employ-
ment in the Forest Service of India; in the conclusion of
which paper, after having described some of the Crown
forests and private woods of Britain, he said :—

‘It is unpossible to speak too highly of the admirable work
done by the able men who have created these forests at
Scone, Blair Athole, Dunkeld, in Strathspey, on the Find-
horn, and at Beauly, in Scotland, as well as in some of the
English Crown forests. In our Colonies, including India,
there are millions and millions of acres of forest land,
some of which is of the greatest value, so that Great
Britain is perhaps the country most richly endowed in
forest wealth, of all the countries of the earth. Every
one, not oaly in our own country, but elsewhere, is
interested that all this great forest wealth should not b:
wasted or frittered away by a single generation of men.
But, nevertheless, what is the future of all the forests?
J have visited many of them, and scarcely anywhere did I see
any of that young growth which are the links uniting
the forest now on the ground with that of the future. Cano
any one say, then, that the future of these forests is
assured? As at present they exist, one of two conditions
must befall them. Either they will be cut down and the
CONCLUSION, 227

timber sold, or they will in due course perish naturally,
and disappear of themselves. In either case the result is
deeply to be deplored, for when once a forest disappears,
it can only be replaced at a great expense of time and
money.

‘It is for this reason that I am here to advocate the
establishment—be it on the smallest scale even, to com-
mence with—of some system of national instruction in
scientific forestry. Hitherto, we have been entirely depen-
dent on Continental schools for this training, and at the
present moment we have officers of the French forest
service, who have been lent to the British Government, at
the head of the forest administrations both at the Cape of
Good Hope and at Cyprus. It seems, then, time that
some stir should be made to help ourselves in this matter.
It would, perhaps, suffice at first to establish a course of
lectures on forestry at one of our public educational estab-
lishments, at which young men desirous of following a
forest career might attend; provision being made for their
instruction in practical work, if possible, in our own Crown
forests, but otherwise, in some of the State forests on the
Continent. It might be hoped that the Indian and Colonial
Governments would, as an encouragement, place some

‘appointments in their forest services at the disposal of
young men so educated.

‘As a proof of what has been already effected in India
by the forest officers educated in the Continental schools,
I may mention that in that country there are at the
present date 9,820,000 acres of reserved forests, the whole
of which are managed generally on the principles above
detailed, and 2,493,000 of which are protected from ‘fire,
as well as cattle and sheep grazing, and, consequently, are
now in a condition to reproduce themselves under the
natural system; and as, perhaps, the most convincing
proof, from a practical point of view, of the value of the
system, I may a-ld, that the forest revenue of India, which
in 1870 was only £357,000, with a net revenue of £52,000,
in 1880 reached £545,000, with a net revenue of £215,000.
998 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY.

That is to say, the revenue had increased 56 per cent.,
while the charges had only increased 8 per cent.

‘In South Australia a serious commencement has been
made in the right direction also. By an Act passed in 1878,
the sum of £2 per acre is paid to land owners, in certain
districts of the colony, to form plantations of trees. In
1875, a Forest Board was constituted, as certain districts
of the colony were formally defined as forest reserves. In
1878 a Forest. Act was passed, and a conservator of forests
(Mr Brown) was appointed. Last year about a quarter of
a million trees were planted out, and the forest revenue
amounted to £6,517—of which £1,380 was for timber
sold—against an expenditure of £6,200.

‘If, then, so much has been done by the Indian and
Colonial Governments to secure the future of their forests,
can nothing be accomplished at the headquarters of the
Empire? This is the question now before us, and I trust
that it may be answered by instituting a course of instruc-
tion which may eventually develope into a forest school
for Great Britain,’

THE END.
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