jViif,m^wmi.fi*'«t'ftMMit SICEAGH ITEM FKOCESSINC-ONE U.B.C. LIBRARY 'vl -/■^•.—Furetage a^id TailUs sous Futaie, 153-165 Furetage (p. 153) ; Modification proposed by M. Guinier (p. 154); Taillis sous Futaiae (p. 169.) Section E.— Za 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 improved Method of Exploitation (p. 175). Chapter lY.—Sylvicidture, . . . 187-192 Explanation of the term (p. 187) ; Illustration supplied by the Culture of the Austrian Pine (p, 189.) Chapter Y, —Study of Pathology, . . 193-202 Diseases of Trees (p. 193) ; Notice of Fungi infesting the Austrian Pine (p. 194.) CONTENTS. PART III.— Forest Administration. . 203-228 Disadvantages of employing unqualified Managers of Forests CP- 204) ; Employment of such in France 200 years ago (p. 204) ; in England Avithin 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) ; Illustration 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 Emplojmient in the Forest Service of India (p. 215) ; Resultant Pecuniary Profits (p. 223) ; Conclusion (p. 225). AUTHORS, &c., Cited. Adam, p. 15 ; Bagxeris, p. 153-188 ; Blanqui, p. 79 ; Blore, p. 55 ; VicoMTE DE BoNALD, p. 117 ; BoussiNGALT, p. 70 ; Brandis, p. 215 ; Breton, 89 ; Broillard, p. 44 ; Buchanan, p. 28 ; Calmels, p. 45; Cauvigril, p. 80; Cezanne, p. 71-90; CHAPiiAN, p. 52; Chalmers, p. 27; Chesnel, p. 44; Clave, p. 79-169; Cleghorn, p. 135, 215; Costa de Bastelica, p. Ill ; Cours Elementaire de Culture des BoLs, p. 189 ; Deherain, p. 45-46 ; De la Font, p. 116 ; Dupin, p. 47 ; Elisee Reclus, p. 44 ; Forests and Forestry of Finland, p. 7, 15, 17, 157, 213 ; Fliedner, 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 2669, p. 39, 138, 204; Fries, p. 49; Gentil, 113 ; GoRSE, p. 67, 87, 90; De la Grye, p. 161 ; Gctnier, p. 154 ; Hagen, p. 120 ; Hall (p. 65) ; Hartig and Cotta, p. 167-191 ; Heindreich, p. 34; Hericart de Thury, p. 86; Hit.mbolt, 42; Hydrology of South Africa, p. 7, 40, 54, 138; Journal of Forestry, p. 213 ; Journal des Dehdts, 81 ; Jules Maistre, p. 54 ; Labuissiere, p. 75 ; London Medical Journal, p. 33 ; Lorenz and Parade, p. 137 ; Macgregor, p. 136 ; Make, pp. 43, 46, 47, 48, 80 ; Marny, p. 16 ; Marsh, pp. 7, 9, 27, 34 ; Maury, p. 44 ; Moffat, p. 52 ; Ordinance of 1669, p. 141 ; Parade, pp. 134, 137, 140, 165, 168; P me Plantations on Sand Wastes in France, pp. 101, 189, 192; Rapports Annuels de Meteor- ologie Forestieres, p. 47 ; Rauch, pp. 42, 44, 47 ; Rehoisement in France, pp. 57, 66, 85, 87, 112, 188; Reynard, p. 108; Forests of Northern Russia, p. 138 ; Schleide^, p. 48 ; Schools of Forestry in Europe, p. 213 ; Y. Schubert, p. 133 ; Servian Proverb, p. 42 ; Sokannoff, p. 148; SuRELL, pp. 42, 46, 86, 91, 100, 116; Baron F. V. Thuemen, p. 194 ; Tholard, p. 6 ; Times, p. 206 ; Viollet le Due, pp. 43- 89; Campbell-Walker, pp. .169, 180, 224; Water Supply of South Africa, p. 41 ; Wessely, pp. 96, 120. INTPvODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. 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 oi 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. In 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 liear much of arboriculture ; on the Continent we hear mucli of sylvi- culture ; the former refers to woods and plantations, the other term speaks of woods and forests ; in the one case B 2 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 Contineot 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 cumber 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 ail 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 more 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 n^lfcural 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 instructien, 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 for 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. P.ART I. THE EXTENSIVE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. Some 2000 years ago Europe -was extensively covered with forests. It is not so 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 there 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 j and science speculates on what might have been the origin of these forests, as history tells only of the disappearance of the forest wilds. There exists an opinion in regard t© 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 tacts 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 U Alger ie, 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 wdth 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 v/as 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 gTowth of plants of more complex structure. However low in the scale of veofetable orofani- 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 l^HELtMINAiRY STATEMENT. 1 vegetable layer slowly increased, continuously enrichiBg itself with the debris 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 Tke Earth as Modified by Human Action, in regard fo 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 oi' mois- ture, from perpetual frosty and from the depredation! of S MODER]^ FOEEST 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 goiug 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 ftlELlMmAKY STATEMiilNT. 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 by a 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 MODEfvN 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 m 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 depodtion 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 longer 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 t>IiELlM][NARY STATEMiENT. 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 arc numerous well-known facts which show that the destruction of single trees, of plots of trees, and in 1^ MODfiRl^ IFOREST fiCONOMY. 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 a means of increasing the humidity of the soil and climate, and increasing the salubrity of the atmosphere, and the planting 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. 13 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 some 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 11. 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, sauvages — 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 Sp^ssart, 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 Caesar'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 melancholy 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 Er}'mantheus, of Nemeus, with whose name so many herioc recollections of the Hellenes are connected. These have in our day almost totally disappeared ; Tempe 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 Poly can dro. 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 FORESTS OF EUROPE. 17 ' 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, lirs, beeches, and elms. Leucadia has beautiful oak-woods, which supply Ithaca with the wood with which it is actually unprovided. Zante, the ancient Zac}'nthus, 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 rohar, quercus cerris, quercus puhescens, quercus 2)edunculata, aegUops, cijlindnca, 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 ilex, quercus aciculus, and quercus coccifera. Servia and Bosnia possess the most beautiful forests ; in this latter province firs, pines, and birches announce a more northera vegetation ; these kinds are extended upon the southern ridge. ' Russia, which appears to be the last country of Europe that has awoke to 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, in the Crimea, forest kinds become more abundant. Forests stretch over the two slopes of the central range ; c 18 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 metre in diameter, composes the bulk of certain woods. ' III Ukraine, the black earth called by the Prussians 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 orrow with uncommon vio-our, 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, Ko&troma, Novogorod, Minsk, and Yilna. 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, jnchtovnikk ; one of birches, bereznikk ; a thick forest upon a marsh, luiva ; dehre is a forest placed in a hollow ; a forest of pines and birches situated in a sandy country is called horr ; one composed of lofty trees is douhrava, &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 urnaie, a boulaie, a possellniere, 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 Bialowieza, 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 it remained 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 Rushes, 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; wiih 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 mixeJ species. On the north the coni- ferse predominate *, to the south, the lime, ash, and maple. The banks of the Irtisch, the Barnaol, and the Alei are covered wdth 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 tlie 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, W'hich 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 Sayan sk, 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 w^hite 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 w^ere 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 coniferse, pines, and firs — these receive in the country the name of black forests ; the others, called lohite forests, set up, like so many tall masts, Jong files of white birches, SI ' Notwithstanding this vast extent of forests, the epoch is not very distant in which these forests will have dis- appeared, and made way for meagre plantations, for clumps sjjread 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 only 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 22 MODERN FOEEST ECOiTO^lY. lies upon the domain of that name, between those of Wianiezko and of Lnblowicz. 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 tlie hand of man has respected to this day the forest offers admirably tall trees of oak and beech mino-led 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 debris 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 evergTeen forests which cover the heights of Transyl- vania have singularly to suffer from the absence of all care. These same forests, from which the amentacese 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 Ko^dll, 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 countiesof 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 coniferse 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 in 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 metres. 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, wljich 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, Hera3i, 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 Moesia, 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 MODERH 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 OP EQEOPE. 27 yews, service-trees, and maples, are actually, in Sierra- Tejada, the only vestiges of the forests which crowned these mountains. The Sierra de las Almij arras 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 (Ivi9a 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 is 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, 13G-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 he adds, ' it will scarce be credited that many black moors which now disfigure the face 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 oj England, &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 bj' Pliny of the Caledonian Forest. The ancient town of Caledonia had become in Buchanan's time, in the 16th century, he tells us, vulj^arly (or commonl}') 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 Woodlaiiders, as their territories were then covered with woods, and especially the vast Sylva Caledonia. (Inq. vol. i. p. 20.) By Lathi 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 daj^s of Pliny, the whole country was s^till 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 Acneia, 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 gratifj-ing 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 archa3ologists 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 Kjbkken-m'Oddings of Scandinavia — times so remote that though archaeologists 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 FOPvESTS IN EUROPE. The extent to which in different countries there are names of places 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. This is 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 superiors 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 liis 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, np to the period when victory was secured by the trees, and for ages thereafter, the forest was loaking 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 immissed, 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 all 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 to 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 disturbino' element acjainst which it could maintain a DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS. 33 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 1GG6, there sprung up profusely on the streets fiowers which had not been seen there before the fire ; where a piece of quicklime lias 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, whicli gave rise recently to such lively diplomatic discussion, are generally known to be largely encumbered with scoria3, proceeding from the working of the ancient Greeks, but still containing enough J) 34 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. of silver to repay extraction by the improved modern methods. Professor Hendreich relates, according to L' Union Medicals, tha.t under these scoriae, for at least 1,500 years, has slept the seed of a poppy of the species Glaucmm. 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 iJioscorides. 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 Rehoisement in France (pp. 45-i7) 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 uneaual strusrsfle with man forests have - The Earth as Mndined bu Hvman Aetinn, 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 etfecting 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 huntmg, 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 ^\e might by this biSAPPEARANCE OP 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 Ufe ; 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 jDroccsses 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 entir-ely 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 Tbiber and Firewood. Large timber is every year becoming more and more scarce ; 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 risino^ hio-her onlv throuofh 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 Avork 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 KVlLS 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 suppl}^ ; 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 tlie 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 diminutiou thus occasioned in 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, woukl 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 j but it is otherwise elsewhere. In a volume entitled French Forest Ordinance of 1660 : loith 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 faxite 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 1660, 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. Sectiox B. — Droughts. 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 do 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 FOLLOWIKG DES'tRUCTION OF FOKEsTS. 41 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 Ciise 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 laud 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 rnay 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 eiFect 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 conn try I find amongst others cited in Le Bulletin de la iigue du Rehoisement de VAlgerie. 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.' — Humholdt. 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." ' — Ranch. 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 mterfere, however slightly. CTILS FOLLOWING t>ESTR0CTION 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-Ie-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.' — Make. 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 tlie 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 flbroub 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 fall river flo wings become changed into inundations, and devastate the adjacent country, where immense disasters follow.' — Ellsee 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 — Ristoire des Grande Forets 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.* — Ranch — Regeneration de la nature vegetate. 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.' — Broilliard — Les Massifs de Sapin et la disette de Bois en Frame. 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 depredations 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.' — Ghesnel — Genie 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.'— Deherain. 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 — Genie 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 — Genie Civil. 15. 'The phylloxera has its propagation facilitated, or has the way prepared for it 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 Ma istre. 46 MODERN FOEEST ECONOMY. 16. ' Algeria in her turn is passing through a crisis, out of which she ought to coroe more vigorous ; at the present time she is wholly for the culture of the vine, and perhaps she will j^et 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.' — Di'hprain. 17. 'It may be said that the measure of attention given to trees indicates the condition of the agriculture and civilisation of a country.' — Make. 18. ' On the presence of forests on the mountains depends the existence of crop=3, 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 not to 1^." ' — 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 FOEESTS. 47 and to avert thunder storms.^ —Bapports Annuels de Jleteoro- logie Forestiere. 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.' — Mahe. 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.'— Dujoin. 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,' — Ranch. 23. ' By the majestic cahn 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.' — Mahe. 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 T have done. 24. * To give a resume 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 ao"ainst the abusive treatment to which it is subjected. It is for nations, but above all for governments, to take good jjeed.' — Caveant Consules — Make. 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 Rudesheimer to the noblest of the German rivers, if he recall the statement of Tacitus, that not even a cherry, much less a gTape, would ripen on the Rhine ! And if we ask the cause of this mighty change, w^e 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 DESIRtJCtlOisr 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 ia 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 a,re 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. If it expands, its centre 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 j^her 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 po^Yerless, 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 teVlLS i^OLLOWlKG DESTRUCTION OF FOkEStS. 5l 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 on 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 IVtODEtlN f-OHESt ECOiTOMY. eatly a species of Bauliiiiia, 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 Nate, 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 Terra 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 lorests 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 bo after only a few years, the minor species of the acacia grows, but the acacia giraffcea 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 journe.ys 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 : for a 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, Widderingtoma 54 MODEEN FOREST ECONOMY. juniper oides, which gives their name to the Cedar-hergen of Clan-william, 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 confinned 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 w^th verdure, and the giant trees and forests which once studded the brows of the Hamhana hills and neighbouring plains. They boasted of the Kumiman and other rivers, with their impassable torrents, in which the hippopotami played, while the lowing herds walked to their necks in grass, filling their makukiis with milk, making every heart lo 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 DESTEUCTION 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. Accordinof 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 I had made, it was found that the evaporation from ajar 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 "803 inches, gave an 5C MODERN FOEEST 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 w^hite 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 (884,000,000) 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. Section C— Floods, 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 FOLLO^YING 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 forests in the basin upon which the rains fell. As introductory to the study 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 j 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 rehoisement, and in some cases a belt of forest stretching acrost a mountain slope, has had a similar effect. Sub-Section 1.— France. In a volume entitled Rehoisement 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 inundation of the Gar- rone in 1875, by which, in Toulouse alone, 900 persons, it was reported, perished, GOO houses in the town and 2000 in the environs were said to have been swept away ; and the 58 MODEEN FOREST ECONOMY. phenomena are studied in the light of the facts which have now been stated. It is the magnitude of the evil thns 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 iafre- 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 lands 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 DESTEUCTION 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 Segnra 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 I 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. Flipht 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 ap by the flood, and through the rushing of the waves w^ere heard the cries of anguish of the unfortunates who were struggKng with death, or who had been separated by the surging waters. In furious haste the waters swallow^ed 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 than 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, Yoy 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 fiVlLS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF POREsTS. 61 staading, 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 cliildren 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, tho 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 65 MODERN FOREST fiCONOMV. herself in the branches of a fig-tree from the falUng rums 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 hghtning 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 1£\^ILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 63 nothing but ruias. 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 FOEEST ECONOMY. numbers iu 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. 728-74:7). 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 upon them but little influence. Such floods are not peculiar to the Continent of Europe : elsewhere, under like conditions, liko floods have occurred. Captain Hall, in his Manual of South African G€ograi:>kyy 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 Avater- 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 1 made to the Government of the Colony in 18(3^1', it is stated : — ' I have seen the Tarka, the Fish River, the Keiskamma, and the Buffiilo 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, Avhile the river torrent was tearing along below, 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. oo]. 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 FOEESTS. 67 rence, but at times some days or weeks apart. The best preventitive of the catastrophe would have been the rehoisement 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 lonof continuauce of rain, or of a sudden meltine: 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 metres 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 duratiou 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 have 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, flo-wing across the thousand obstacles of the forest, "* See Suite a L'etude stir les Torrenf.<; des Alp^s, de M, Cezanm, p. 96. EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION^ OF FORESTS. bO 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 How comes to break its impetuosity, to lose its force through sub-division, and to arrest its speed ? And ou^ht 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. Gorsso 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 develope rapidly under the vault of the trees. This covering, so emmently spongy, gorges itself with moisture, imbibes the water, and per- torms 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 is the principal cause of the coolness and humidity under the shade of trees, which is ^o 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, 70 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^ w^hatever 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 that a 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. t Boussingalt, Ecoiwmie Rurale c&nsideree dans ses Rapports avec la Chimie, la Phisique, et la MH6orologie. 2 Edit. T. L p. 600, &c. EVILS J'OLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 71 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 humms. 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 and the 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 tliey 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 @ne 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 follo\vin>,^ statement by M. Cezaimo may yive some idea of the importance of this power of absorption :— ' The earth of forests with a density equal to 1-225 retains li)9 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.'— Suife a L'Mudi sur les Torrents cUs HaiUc Alpti. 2 Kd. T. ii. p. 177. t2 MODERN FOtlEST ECOK^OMY. grosser pores ; and this evidently plays an additional and importaDt 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 raraifi.- 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 brouo'ht under consideration. This has been brou^rht prominently forward by the hydrologic experiments of MM. Jeandel, Cantegril, and Belland, Gardes Generaux cles Fortts, 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 diflferent in regard to the superficial condition of the ground. And they have proved that the co-eficient of superficial fioio 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 coDScientious 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 ditferent from these, they might have obtained results and numbers somewhat dif- ferent, is possible. But that the import of these results KVILS FOLLOWING DfiSTRUCtlON OF FORESTS. 73 would liave 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 dc Nansouty was Diicctor of the Obscrv atury of La Plantadc, established on the peak of the Midi de Bigorrc. lie was enabled to announce tiftccn hours in advanee the terrible inundation which wiis about to ravajj'e the basins of the Garonne and the Adour.— Notes accompanying,' the Reiwrt of M. Alieot on the draft of a Law relative to the Reboisement of the Mountains, passed in 1S77 by the Chamber of Deputies. 74 MODERN POTEST ECONOMY. and by shelteriDg it from the blasts of south wind which bring to Europe a 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 a report 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 rehoisement 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 fiiQy 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 reojard to the immediate and EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OP FORESTS. 75 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 18G6, 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, Labuissiere), 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 kilometres, 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 recep- 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 metres 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 T6 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. two kilometres. 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 hassin de reception, of about 250 hectares, or 113 acres, comprises the whole slope, precipitately inclined, with a general south-west aspect ; it is closed at the top by a 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 desolating aridity. 'In the night of the 2nd and 3rd September 18G4 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. ' The day of the 4th September was very warm ; a water-spout borne along by a south-west wind struck, on 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 metres. It did not flow more than fifty minutes ; but with an average delivery of half a cubic metre ; it had then passed in all 15,000 metres 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 metres. The ground had only retained 5000, which is sufiiciently explained by their argillaceous character and their state of saturation the night before. While the torrent of Saint-Phalez flowed, filled from bank EVILS FOLLOWING 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 spealcing, 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, and 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. The 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 rain, which I saw approaching. I 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 [3rd ?] September. * I had scarcely gone over two kilometres 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 MODEEN 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 loug circuit — to go round the domain of Saint- Phalez, and to cross the grounds belongicg to it, in which one sank to the depth of 0*30 metres, 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 metres from the ravine of Saint-Phalez, there was seen going down, in that of Yeuse, a small fillet of clear w^ater ; 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 near 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 storna 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 Clave, 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 Mahe : — ' 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 snfftcient 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 regime, and the w^orks 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. Si 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 disoi^ders. Between the sources of the Loire and the Herault the Cevennes are 3,700 feet high. All this surface is composed of granite impermeable to the rains. The 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 Ardeche, and the Garden, affluents of the Rhone ; on the west, the Lot and the Tarn, affluents of the Garonne ; on the north, the Loire and its tributary the Allier ; on the soutli, the Herault. The Ardeche, whose basin is only 2,492 kilo- metres, has enormous rises. At the bridge d'Arc the stream rises to nineteen metres above the lowest level, and pours down at a rate of 7000 cubic metres per second, almost as much as the Loire at Tours. An equal violence is registered in the Dour, the Ervieux, the Garden, the Isere, the Drome, 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 Corbieres exercise a great influence on the small Mediterranean streams between the Rhone and the Pyrenees. A rain of 200 millimetres, 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. billed, 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 by a 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 a very 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 KVILS FOLLOWmO DESTRUCTION OF FORl^STS. S3 the night of the 22nd June, M. Beylac descended the mountain during the most fearful weather to spread the alarm ; but the floods in all the tributaries of the Garonue were so sudden that to give extensive warning was impos- sible. Had the hassins de receptioyi 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, tliat 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 h ive 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 Fonts et Chaussees previsions of the last importance. In the same manner a station should be made on the Corbieres. 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 rcboisement 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 Herault 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 U MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. might have been preveDted ; 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 has 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 so 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 debris and covering fertile lands many feet deep — it maybe 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 on 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 canied away ; and ^ Rehoisement in France, LOiTAtlON. 13;^ 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 of its 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 j in these, however, it is still practised. From what is said by W. von Schubert, in his Resage nam 134 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. Sverige Norrige Lappland, published in Stockliohn iu 1823, iu 3 vol. Svo ; and from what is said by Lars Levi Laestadius, in a work entitled, Om Mojliglisten och Ford- elcCfi 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, extrement ancienne, and such it appears to have been in France ; but there may. be claimed for it an antiquity 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 ot France, and the Svedjande of Sweden and of Finland, appear as mere childish play. In the Canara district it is known as Kumar i. 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 20,746, 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 EXPLOirATloN. 135 sput is deserted imtil tbe 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. 473.' 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 XJitenhagc I have seen a 136 MODERN FOKEST ECOKOMV. portion of primaeval forest cultivated in true Kwnari atyle by Kaffirs, with the consent of the proprietor, fur Avhich 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 recklessl}^ whicli 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 Ame)ica, 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 tirst 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 GO". The trees are all felled in the same du'ection, 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 tire, 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. Tiiere 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 wdth clearing. The extent of laad which has been denuded of forest by such clearings is immense. What is sought by Sartage is a temporary use of the 5'Oll^ST EXPLOltATiON. 13? land for horticultural or agricultural operations. It may be considered a primitive form of clearing ; but this term is 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 buildinof, 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 Cartage 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, \vhich cannot be alleged of forest clearing, as that term is generally employed. In a volume entitled Finland: its Forests and Forest Management (pp. 53-115, 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 138 MODEKN FOEEST 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, and in 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. Bat 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 Russia, pp. 89-100 ; and in the French Forest Ordinance of 1669, luith Historiccd Sketch of Previous Treatment of Forests in France, pp. 35-39. Section C— Exploitatiox 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 century, if not FOilEST 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 lo 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 a 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 Ue produced a continuous supply of wood, and of pecuniary returns. If this be realised, little difhculty will be experienced in 140 MobRRN FOtiEST t:CONOMV. conceiving of a similar result being obtained by a series of successive fellings being carried out in an extensive forest, eacli 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. If a 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 Methodeatire 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 1G69, 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 1C69, 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 indispensable 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 coppiqe woods to prevent the too frequent felling, and also the incon- siderate felling of reserved trees.' The Ordinance comprises many prescriptions besides those relating to this method of exploitation. In regard to this it contains these : — Chapter 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-AIaster 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 Maitrise. 2. ' They shall only be accepted on testimony to their good life and behaviour, and they shall, before they eater 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, Gratrie, 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. 4. ' 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. Chapter XV. — Of Sales, Fellings, d;c. 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. • • • • I • . 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 Maitrise, 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 arpenfs or acres, and the kind of wood to be sold ; and in which he shall designate in detail the wards and trigoaometrically 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 yeax', who shall bo bound forthwith to assemble and 144 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY, toorether devote a day to the making the allotmeats, which shall be done in their presence by the Surveyor. 0. ' 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, w^th 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 of 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, ditfering 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 triage 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, ]?01REST fiXPLOlTATiOiC. 14S 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 proportions, of oak, and, if possible, of good wood and competent size, which he shall mark as halliveaux 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. Chapter 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 FOUEST ECONOMY. veyors and Soucheteurs , to make the new survey and souchetage of tlie 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, parois, lizieres and halliveaux, 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, aud of any deficiencies of trees retained by the official reports of martellage and ballivage. 0. ' 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 w^hich 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 ^OHfiSi: ElPLOttATloN. 14^ of Previous Treatment of Forests lit 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 was one 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 a 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 led to surmise that aire 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 MODERlSr 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 follo^^dng may be taken as supplying a rough and rude illustration of it in its application to a 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- 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 1878, that it was not uncommon, and it might be considered the general usage, to fell the forest in long strips of 50 fathoms, or 850 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 with trees. 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 undertakiug. 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 accepted as a fact by the most advanced foresters of the day. And 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. 131 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 d tire et aire, and the new system of forest economy now carried out in Germany and in France. I know not of a name 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 case 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, regeneration naturelle, and amelioration progressive ; not one or other but all of these combined, and so combined not only that each shall be secured without detrinient 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, bub 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 thioughout the Continent of Europe are seeking to bring the n^anagement 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 j but it is expe- FOREST EXPLOITATION. 153 dient previously to bring under consideration another methocl of exploitation. Section D.— ' Furetage/ and ' Taillis Sous Futaie/ Fur ef age 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 seJf-sown seed. It may be considered a modification o^ 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 of, 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 a 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 Sylviculture,'^ ' 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 poles are cut at the age of twenty-four or thirty years — {i.e., 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 SylmcxiUure : a Short Treatise on the Scientific Cultivation of tht Oak and other Hardivood Trees. Translated from the Fi-ench by E. E. Fernandez and A. Smythies, B.A., Indian Forest Service. London ; William Kider & Son ; Simpkin, M»v8l.all. & Co. ISS2. 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 Pyienees, by M. E. Guinier may be found in the Rnme des Eaux et Forets for 1883, (pp. 469-4.77, 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 leno'th 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- lished bv 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 is, 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 out 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 Furetaye 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. Wheat 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 hallivemix, 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 in a 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 resfcrve,more or less abundant, chosen from the dominating productions, we resume the principle of Taillis sous Futaie — copse as the under-growth of a timber forest ; and w^hatever 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 halliveaux^ trees reserved to supply seed. By Professor Bagneris in his Manuel de Silviculture, pub- lished in 1873, 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 EXPLOITATIOK. l57 With the explanations cited M. Guinier proceeds to state what reserves he would propose. These are : — 1. Anciens ; Modernes ; Balliveaux de V Age A^., which arc 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 halliveaux ; * 2. The maintenance on the stumps (save with an exception always restricted) of twigs belonging to the underwood and the halliveaux^ serving to keep up the flow of sap ', ' 3. An advance of many years increase obtained by the reserving of the underwood ; ' 4. The emhroussaillement 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 ; 15S 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 Fnretage, and cast a glance at the general results of the two methods of procedure. ' One can establish easily two essential differences. ' In the old Furdage 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 in a 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 coiys d^armee, 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 w^ithout taking into account the requirements of the tree, than it is to determine the V'OUfiST EXPLOITATION. 159 manoeuvres of an army without having regard to llie 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 Fitretage ; 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 Faretage ? ' It is clear that the first-mentioned method stands to the second as Taillis sousfutaie, 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 tlie 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 Avill 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 cut a certain number of shoots in a clump without injuring the rest ; and in any case the labour 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 to 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 Taillis sous Futaie. Besides different viethodes of exploitation, there are different regimes 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 regime referred to, and the modified Furetage differs from the mode of exploitation usually followed in Taillis 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 Gomptes Rendiis de la Societe d^ AgriculUire 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. de la 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 exploitation 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 exckisively 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 hois hhncs [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 s^reater demand in resrard to lis^ht : 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 advantage 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. ' Is 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 regime of copse, and substi- 164 xMODERN 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 ft£|,scent buds, It is desirable that the course of procedure ^FORtiSt 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 Methoie a tire et aire, contrasting this with conse- quences which have followed a reckless exploitation by Jardiimge, we need not wonder that the famous Ordinance of 1GG9 should have been welcomed with delight, as it was in many places, by foresters and forest administrators and forest proprietors. But even it did not ultimately produce all the good anticipated from it. In principle it was applicable to timber forests and coppice-woods alike ; but the latter, from the shorter period required for the period of revolution, 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 regime had not entirely neglected to occupy itself with the conditions of the natural reproduction of forests, it would have left 166 MODERN FOREST ECONOM\^ almost nothing to be desired. What was expected from it was that it would arrest the destructioQ of forests, aud 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 iu view might have been gained by simply making the extent of the area of differeat 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. FOkESt EXPLOITATION. 16^ This, of course, would bo at once fatal to a side by side continuously advancing exploitation, characteristic generally of the method known as a tire et aire, but the end for which tliat was eujoined 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 Ctdture of Woods, there is discussed by him at considerable length, the system of a tire et aire, 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 Germaoy. 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 jSIOt)ERN FOREST ECOKOM^^. 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 beeu 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 Clave, in an article entitled Etudes oT Econo- mic 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 of a century, Id 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 FORfiS't EXPLOITATION. 1^^ place en corps de doctere. Havincj tliere taken ces ajylombs, 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, Bufifon, Du Petit Thenars, Merbel, Richard, and DecandoUe, 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 1 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 no MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. doubts on these points, I would jDoint to the Swinley Woods, under the charge of Mr Meuzies, 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 thorough!}' 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. ....... '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 branch 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 i3oth 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 J^'^ORfiST EXPLOITAtlON. Itl *1 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 "-row 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 17^ MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. quality. From biographies of Hartig and Cotta by Givin- ner in ForstUche MittheUiuigen^ 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 tlie French students of the physiology of vegetation were known in Germany and valued there. The Met/i)de a tire et aire had been foreshadowed in a system of forest management enjoineJ on his forest administrators by Count xVLaasfeldt in 1585. 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 Metkode des Compirteniciits or Die Fachwerke metli')d, as it U called in Germany, be considered a further development of that. What we owe to Hxrtig and Gotta 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 Metkode des C ompartements 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 thro ugh oat 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 also in the ages at which thcrfe changes in the rate of increase occur; and that the increase varies with ditterences 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 mif^ht be more wood obtained in the course of 180 years from three crops felled at the age of GO 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, according to circumstances, be one or other of these ages, or might be another aoe altOQ^ether. 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. fellingwS 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 niauy of the Schools of Forestry on the Continent of Europe there have been established National Experimental Stations at 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 ditferent 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 w^ithin the area of the forest upon w^hich he is engaged shall tend to secure a sustained production of w^ood, 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 n^aking of a honey comb as supplying an illustra- tion of what IS 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 Methode des Compartements may be considered to be only a development of the method of exploitation known as La Methode a tire et aire ; but it is, as that statement implies, the same with a difference. It is designated in Germany the Fachiocrhe Method, in France La Methode des Comparti- 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. It 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 ail 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. Tbe 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 1 1 have said with proximate 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 FOKEST EXPLOITATION. m it is uecessary, aloug 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 tlie extent to which these conditions are so. In makino' 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. In 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 th(; 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 i^roposed 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 N 178 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. arc 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 Ije, 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 aud accuracy of tbe 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 i^^OREST EXPLOriATION. I79 Helf-sown seed; and artificial sowing or plantin'^- is empoyed only to fill spaces which may have been°left blank m this process, and in the creation of new forests as m the reboisement of mountains, or the fixing and utilisation of drift sands. . To give full efficiency to the reproduction of forests bv self-sown seed, a succession of fellings is necessary; and in these the most extensive felling is not the final one tiesides baUiveaux left standing when the principal felliucr IS made, to yield seed, and trees of greater age, destined lor 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 seedlincrs bubsequeiitly 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 saphngs no longer require the fostering thus afforded, does the final felling take place. Thereafter successive thinnings according to prescribed regulations ai-e 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 fellino-s 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 fellincr when the rising generation no longer requires the shade and shelter of the older trees. In arranging the order in which successive fellino-s 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 ISO MODERX FOREST ECONOMY. attention given in it to ultimate, and it may be distant, results, this assumes in it greater importance than it docs 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, i.e , 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, Dot 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 eacl) 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 is at an end. 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 {unier 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 Forest7^y : its Aim and Object, he says in regard to the way in which operations are initiated in Germany and France : — ' When a forest is about to bo 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 Avith 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 gi'owth and nature of the crops which it may be advisable to grow in future years. Whilst the sur^-eyor is engaged in demar- cating and surv^eying 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 Avill 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 his 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. li' a iurest track be suddenly cleared, there will ordinarily spring up a mass of coarse herbage and undergrowth, through whicli 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 lierbage. 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 so on. 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 ever}^ 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 sucli timber as suits him, irrespective of its relation_to the forest incre- FOREST EXPLOITATION. 183 ment. Eeduced 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 riglitly 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 wnth a view to secure a sustained suj^ply of produce. T 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 solo 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 1 have proposed to myself to do is to supply an introduction to the study of this. Jt is not impossible, and not 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 forest ecoDomy 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 l)y 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 a tire et aire is not 186 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. in itself sufficient to prevent this disastrous consequence. But its development, La Methode des Comjyartiments, with its capabilities of indefinite improvement without change of principle, seems to leave nothing more advanced to be at present desired. Furetage, in its most improved form, is applicable only to coppice. CHAPTER lY. S Y L V I a U L T U p. E. 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 l)e 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 beino- 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 maybe 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 thf^ 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 loaves and their rootlets, but having, like the tree, a corporate existence as a whole. And the cidturo 188 MODERN FOEEST 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 wdth 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; andwdth 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 O. Bagneris^ Ivsjoector of Forests, and Frofessor at the Forest School of JS'ancy, which has been translated from the French by Messrs Fernandez and Smythies, of the Indian Forest Service. But besides being carried on wdth 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 Rehoisement in France ; or Records of the Be-plant- ing of the Aljys, the Cevennes, and the Fyrenees, with Trees, Eerhage, and Bush, loith a view to arresting and preventing the destructive consegnences of torrents. It has been employed to arrest and^utilise sand-drifts. Details of some undertakings with this view are given in ^YLVicCLTUin':, i89 a Volume I liave 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 wliich 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 be3^ond 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 ditfcient countries, special attention is given to this subject. In the immediately preceding chapter some information [ante 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 Fine Plantations in France (pp. 3G-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 tlie 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 elementaire de Cidture des Bois cree a V Ecole Foreestier dc Nancy. The Austrian black pine, Le Pin Noir of France, the Pinus nigra of Linnceus, the Pinus Austriaca of Hoss, 190 MODERN FOKEST ECOis^OMY. the Pmus Laricio Austriaca of Euclleclier, 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 it in 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, Exposure. — The mountains where this pine is indigenous range from about 800 to about 1000 metres in height. It is 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. — As already mentioned the Fin Noir, or black pine prefers especially light, dry calcareous soil, however destitute it ma}^ be of humus. This quality makes it very suitable for the reboisement of bare rocks, provided tliat 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 pine. 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. igi Hoots. — Tlie roots are creeping and liardy, 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 metre or more at the foot, and thirty or thirty-three metres 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 wo 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 Dais, by Cotta, there aro 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 groimd is often covered with shrubs and thorns. The coiqns 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 d\uneUo ratio n^ of which nothing is said in the work quoted above, should be etlected according to the rules which have been given for forests of Scotch fir. 10-^ xMODEKN 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 SoJogne, together with the Scotch lir and the Norway fir, after the soil 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. G9-80). This tree was introduced into Britain in 1835. It is propagated by seed, and gi'ows on a sandy loam. But meniion 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 y. 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 tp 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 etfects 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 lias just been given. o 194 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. Experimental stations Lave 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 monos^raph on this subject issued last year [1883] there appeared from the pen of Baron F. V. Thuemen the First Part of a Mycological Keport, under the title Beitraege zur Kentniss der auf der Schwarzfoehre Yorkommenden Pilze ; and a resume, by the author of that report, of the conclusions arrived at in regard to the fungi infesting this tree, appeared in the Centralhhit Fuer Das Gesammte Forsivesen, 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 )je 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 Finus Ausfriaca has been experimentally planted on a con- siderable scale. In consequence of this the work had to be commenced ah 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 jjini^ occasioning the STUDY OF PATHOLOGY. 195 Eothfaule, or red-Yot, of the fir; aii<] tlic everywhere dreaded Trametes radiciperda, attacking especially the roots, and proving in the highest degree injurious ; and the Armillaria onellea, 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 opinion 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, &:c. 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 vol 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 brousfht 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 l\mg\ are such as absorb their nutriment from livinpf orgranisms, animal or vegetable ; Saproi^bytes are tlioso wliieh find their nutriment in the remains of dead organisms, or from organic compounds produced by li\ing org^anisms.— J. C. H. 196 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. development, do damage as parasites to the plants which supply to them a lodging place. * The PericUrmnim pini^ Lev., or Kiefern-Uasenrost, and the P. ohlongispornm, 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-hlasen- rost, when it comes upon the branches or trunks. It kills in 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 Krehses 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- dermiurr, 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 Loecherschivamm, 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. I'f! 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 paperiike patches, measuring many centimetres ; and by means of this subcortical growth the connection between the bark and the tree becomes extensively per- forated 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 Holzschio:tmin, the nearest relation of the dreaded Ilausuch-chivamm, 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 Steremn pini, Fr., or Kieteni- hartsckiebe^ and the Genaiigium ferriirjino&mn^ Fr., or Rosi- brauiie)i 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 ha/e 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 Schuetle. 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 baen seen in Denmark, where, as has been intimated, this tree has been largely cultivated. But oa dead leaves there, as everywhere, the species is known and is couimon on all species of Piwts and of Pice'i. But 108 MOiDERN FOREST JSCONOMY. tliuugli thus far Austria bas escaped a visitation of this dreaded guest, it is felt that there is uot 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 disease 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 iuto the body of the tree. In the latter case the further development advances in one or other of two diflferent 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 has pressed its way into most of the leaves, it produces, often even in the year of its first appearaijce, what are known as Spennogonia, 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 leav^es, STUDY Ot" PATHOLOGY. i9§ only a short time can intervene before the death of tlie tree. * 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, srowino: 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 RothlicJie pustelscorf, and Leptostroma pinafitri, Desm., or Der Kiefem-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 Cladosjyorium fumciffo, Lk., 01' 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 Oladosporium famago especially can vegetate with extraordinary luxuriance without honey-dew. One may therefore reasonably infer that the Russthau fungus is a parasiiic organism, which, if it do possess no haustorium, still finds nourishment from the plant on which it has found a home ; and which may therefore assuredly be reckoned amongst the injurious, species. It is especially the case 200 MODERN FOEEST ECONOMY. that the Rassthau always comes upon the black pine with- out any preceding honey-dew, and in so far as it is con- ceraed, 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 ajDplicable to it in the open air, it must be left to jump ab:)ut at its own sweet will, without man being able to interfere to prevent it. ' The most remarkable fungus infesting the black pine is one recently studied, and described in the reports on the Vienna forest, the Coiuotktca Austriacam^ Thuem., or the Austrian Staithhaujeupilz. 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 oidy 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. M 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 wpre 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 AvalJs 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- ihecum 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, moreover, 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 tl»e contrary may present themselves, Coniothecum Austriaca is not a fungus injurious to forests. ' We have, in this brief resume considered only the more injurious parasites, and this newly-discovered species Coniothecum Austriaca] all others being considered as Sap^ rophi/tesj up to the present time at least, we have passed 202 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. over. Aud 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 Peridermiuni pini 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 Peridermmm ohlongisporium and Leptostroma pinastri, and also in the long run by the Phoma erythreltum and the Russthau. With regard to some kinds, as for example, the Buipilsen, must the question in regard to injury being attiibu table 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 jDine in Austria, at this time the expression is quite justi- fiable— the black pine is one of the healthiest of forest trees in the land, and the one least injured by parasitic fungi.' As has been stated in regard to the natural history and culture of the black pine, it may be stated here that 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 111, 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 ot 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, a 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 FOKEST ECONOMY. siuu all the benetit possible, without detrimeut 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 tlie 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, pectdations, 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 Eoi, lieutenant-generals, superintendents, and at least one Grand-master des Eaux et Forets, the head of the statf. And some idea may be formed of the magni- tude of the malversations committed by them from the penalties to which these ofi&cials of high social position were subjected : besides restitutions, j^ecuniary penalties to the amount of 275,000 livres were exacted. All the officers and officials of Mouliere had to demit their offices, and they w^ere 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 w^eight, 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 Eaiio: et Forets of Epernay was condemned to death. "^ ^ Details are given iu Frcmh Forest Ordinance of 1009, with Historical Sketch, tLc. (pp. 13-34). FOEEST ADMINISTEATION. 205 In 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 ]702, 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 civil commissioners to be conservators of forests, and field-cornets to be forest warders, has long been the practice. The existence of gross abuses in the management of Crown woods and forests of England, si miliar 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 counter actincf the disastrous consequences following the destruction of bush and herbage by fire, appended to the Report of the Colonial Botanist for 1803 ; in Memoirs on the Forests and Forest Lands of South Africa, and on The Forest Economy of tJie 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 Colon}^ appointed 14th August ISGo, to con- sider the Colonial Botanist's Report; and after I had loft Sec ForesitA of Eoglciud in BjU'gnn' Tlmex (p. 9<). 206 MODEEN FOREST ECONOMY. the Colony similar evidence was collected by a Commission appointed by the Government. With the introduction of exploitation of forests accord - ino" to Die Fachv:erke Method — La Jlcthode 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 dis- 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 resume 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 lastmg two years ; the Weisswasser School, with five professors and 80 students ; the Lemberg School, with 12 professors and ^0 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 2^ years, and the number of students al)out 57. The MUnden Royal Forest Academy has a FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 207 director, 10 professors, and 78 students. The Forestry School at Grosse-Schonebeck 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 ibrest 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 Tubingen. 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 one 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 80 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 Yallombrosa ; 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 Avhat forests she has left, possesses no school whatsoever.' 208 MODERN FOEEST 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 Monies (The School of Mountain Engineers). In France not a little has been done by les Ingenieurs des Fonts et Chaussees (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 liis knowledge of the French and Geruian languages. FOREST ADMIJSISTRATION. 209 Every year there are issued p'oorammes 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 sul:>- 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 ia 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, luminous phenomena. Chemistry : chemical notations, cojnbining proportions, theory of chemical equivalents, specific heat, atomic theory, metal- loids and their more important compounds, other elemen- 1' 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 mammiferse, 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 w^ill be required nianifest facility-" in copying correctly an FOEEST ADMINISTRATION. 211 order of architecture, or a machine; some model drawing of a landscape in Les Etuds cVaprts 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 tlie 1st 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 stew^ard ; a resident in charge of the school forest ; a porter ; three servitors; necessary warders and subwarders for the pro- tection of the land auvl niiMiutains 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 81st 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 surve3ang, 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, writing and drawing implements, and the uniform enjoined upon students ; but beyond this I know of no pecuniary charge made upon them. Regular an(3 FOREST AbxMINLSTRATION. 213 pimctual attendaace, studious attention, and respecttnl 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 Euroiye : a Plea for the Creation of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretuvi 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. 23-29; at Nancy in France, pp. 30-45. In The Journal of Forestry ^ vol. i., is given information in regard io the course of study followed at Hohenheim in Wurtem- burg, pp 81-87; at Carlsruhe in Baden, pp. 394-398; and at Fvois in Finland, pp. 545-557, 701-707. And in regard to this last additional details are given in Finland : its 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 miUtary 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 couipensatlou for the monotonous life they lead in tiio forest, while the 2U MODERN FOREST ECONOM\\ military man has access to the gaities of city life, and the excitement of the military station. The depressing influence of continuous life in tlie 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 shadow 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 is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; 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 it be established, or stand. Illustrations of large returns having been obtained from liberal expenditure judiciously applied, is supplied l)y the histor}' 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 jDarts of India. Interesting and valuable information in regard to this, and to the earlier operations, is supplied in a FOREST ADMINISTRATION. 2\5 volume entitled The Forests and Gardens of South Ind'ia^ 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 direj- 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 Novembar 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, if 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 :—(l) English writing from dictation, and English •216 MODERN FOREST ECOMON^. composition. (2) Arithmetic in all its branches. (8) Algebra, elementary principles, simple and quadratic equations, ratios and proportions, logarithms, arithmetical and geometrical progression. (4) Geometry (1st, 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 ]and measuring ; and in the elements of mechanical and natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogVj and in plan drawing. ' They must appear i^ersonally 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, Avill be chosen ivho 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, road making, and the natural S'OREST ADiMINISTRATION. 2l? 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 1st 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 dihgence 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 manner, or do not show satisfactory progress in their studies, will be removedj'rom 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 thh 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 ficoNOMY. meiidation 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 EngHsh 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- t'OREST AbiVimiStilATlON. 219 tioiis 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 1873, when the present system of training for the Forest Department in India w^ill 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 first or scientific part of their training shall comprise the following sub- jects : — 220 MODERN FOUEST KCONOM^. 'I. Mechanical and Natural Philosophy. — The elements of mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, optics, heat, climate, rainfall, and the first elements of elec- tricity and magnetism. ' 11. 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 ADMINISTEATION. 221 'Those candidates who fail to satisfy Her Majesty's Secretary of State that they have attained a sufficient proficiency in the subjects mentioned will be removed from the list of candidates. ' Those candidates who, from previous study, feel them- selves competent to pass the second or science examina- tion at the same time as the first, or examination for admission, will be permitted to do so. 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 pai'- 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 branches in 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 the 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 tliem tj 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 1st September 1869, and be concluded on 1st 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 Geneiale des Forets." The months of September and October will be spent in a forest district for preliminary 222 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. practical training. By the 1st November they will pro- ceed to NaDcy, 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 300 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 addition 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 tioie to time be sent to different forest districts, to become acquainted with the ditferent 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 I'xpense of outfit and passage to India is met by the Government ; and their salaries, exclusive of allowances, range, as has been stated, from £800 to £1,000 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 thousinds of pounds. According to Resolution of Government of India, Financial Department, No. 2012, dated 11th March 1S71, 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 (£4-5 1,100), and the receipts, 57,32,200 rupees (£573,220), showing a surplus of 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-G5, 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 before the Otago Institute, Dunedin, 2 1st December, 1876 :— ' The Chunga Munga plantation, in the Punjab, has an area of 7,000 acres, commenced in 1865, contains chiefly Indian blackwood (Dalhergia 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, wdll be £97,000, and the value of the plantation be then £170,000. In consideiing 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 sharp frosts in winter. The w^hole 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 wdiole or any portion when cleared. The renta 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. 225 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 Modem 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 MODEEN FOREST ECONOMY, to which allusion 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 1st 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 e:nploy- 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 impossible 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. Ever/ one, not only in our own country, but elsewhere, is interested that all this great forest wealth should not be wasted or frittered away by a single generation of men. But, nevertheless, what is the future of all the forests? I 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. Can any one say, then, that the future of these forests is assured ? As at present they exist, one of two conditions must befall tliem. Eiiher 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 traininf^, 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 tbat in that couutry 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 Id, that the forest revenue of India, which ill 1870 was only £357,000, with a net revenue of £52,000, in 1880 reached £545,000, with a net revenue of £215,000. 12^8 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. That is to say, the revenue had increased oQ per cent., while the charges had only increased 8 per cent. ' In South Australia a serious commencement has been made in the right dkection also. By an Act passed in 1873, 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 accompHshed 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 Biitain/ THE EXD. . ^ Date Due / f]r,yi Of) ^7?, m^'^ ;--(? l\^0\ "^ ' •* "" ■ \\K: 1 wnv '''>FNT'^ iW r> 1 f '- /vOl/ -4 /966 C ^/i ri- .^Z/u^- / 4.PR 1 JAN 2 ^ 1 idcc 1 i 1 i > LIBRARY