A PRIMER OF FORESTRY PART II—PRACTICAL FORESTRY

FORESTRY ABROAD.

Except China, all civilized nations care for the forest. Until recently the United States ranked nearly with China in this respect, and our country still remains far behind the progressive modern nations in nearly all that relates to the protection, preservation, and conservative use of the forest. Japan has a well-developed forest service and a national forest school. In Austria, Italy, and Norway and Sweden government forestry is a well-established portion of the national life. Turkey, Greece, Spain, and Portugal give attention to the forests. Russia, dealing like ourselves with vast areas of forests in thinly peopled regions, but by methods wholly different from our own, is drawing enormous revenues from the systematic care and use of the forests. In Germany the scientific treatment of forests has reached, perhaps, its highest development. The foresters of France have perfected a most practical and effective general system of forestry, and have created the difficult art of controlling the floods of mountain torrents by planting trees. The Republic of Switzerland, by the use of methods most instructive to citizens of the United States, has developed a type of government forest policy more worthy of our attention and imitation than any other in Europe. In Australia and New Zealand forestry has already made important advances. In Canada the English have made real progress in forestry; the government sells the timber from its forests, but retains possession of the lands and employs fire guards; at the Cape of Good Hope they have an excellent forest service; in British India they have met and answered many questions which still confront the American forester, and in a little more than thirty years have created a forest service of great merit and high achievement. The United States has scarcely yet begun.

THE FOREST IN EARLY TIMES.

In very early times the forest was preserved for the game it contained. Forestry then meant the art of hunting, and had very little to do with the care of trees. Even the word forest, which really comes from the Latin foris, meaning out of doors, was thought in England to be derived from the fact that it was a place given up to wild animals for rest. But gradually the forest came to be considered more than the game, and the serious study of forestry began.

MODERN FORESTRY.

Forestry as a science is of comparatively recent origin, although a work in which all the European trees are described was one of the earliest printed books. Until the end of the eighteenth century forestry was discussed chiefly by men who were either scholars or practical woodsmen, but who were not both. Then appeared Hartig and Cotta, two men who united these points of view, and their writings are at the base of the whole modern growth of the subject. Both were German. Each covered the whole field as it was then understood, and together they exerted an influence which has not been approached by any other authors since. From Germany their teaching spread to France, and early in the nineteenth century their doctrines were introduced into the French Forest School at Nancy by Lorentz, who, with his successor, Parade, was the founder of modern forestry in France.

Under the feudal system, which was finally destroyed in France by the revolution of 1789, the forest was the property of the feudal lord. In order to make the life of their serfs, who were useful both as taxpayers and as fighting men, easier, and so increase their number, he gave them the privilege of taking from his forest the wood which they required. For similar reasons the wealthy religious houses, like that of the Grande Chartreuse, made grants of land and of rights in the forest. But after a time the number of peasants increased so much that their wants absorbed nearly the whole produce of the woodlands. Then it was found necessary to limit the prescriptive rights to forest products by restricting them to certain parts of the forest, or to make an end of them by exchanging them for the absolute ownership of smaller areas. Thus many of the communities, to which, and not to individual peasants, these rights belonged, came to possess forests of their own. But the communes, as they were called, managed their forests badly, and about three hundred years ago the Government was forced to intervene. Under the management of officers of the Government forest service, the results from the communal forests have been excellent. At present these forests not only supply fuel to the villages which own them, but in some cases they produce enough to pay all the village taxes as well.

Germany.

Germany still holds the high position in forest science which began with Hartig and Cotta. The German forest schools, of which there are seven of the higher grades, are still among the very best, and the study of forestry, both in the schools and in the forest experiment stations, is eagerly pursued. The forests in Prussia, Saxony, and other Germany States are admirably managed, and yield important returns. The total value of the German forests, public and private, is said to be about $4,500,000,000.

France.

Forestry in France has long been associated with the names of famous men. Henry of Navarre and his friend and minister, Sully; Palissy, the great potter, who called the neglect of the forest prevalent in his time "not a mistake, but a calamity and a curse for France;" Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV; the botanist Duhamel du Monceau; Buffon, the celebrated naturalist, are among the men to whom France owes the rise and progress of her present excellent forest policy. Their peculiar service was to lay the foundation, both in law and in public opinion, upon which modern forestry in France now rests.

The forests of the French Government are admirably managed. They cover only about 2,750,000 acres, but they yield a net return each year of more than $2 per acre. Besides handling their national forests with great intelligence and success, the French foresters have done much for the general progress of forestry. They developed the art of reforesting denuded mountains, and were the first to plant trees on moving sand dunes along the seashore. More than 150,000 acres of these dunes, which once were blown about by the wind until they overwhelmed great stretches of fertile ground, and even threatened to bury whole towns, are now covered with forests of pine, and produce great quantities of turpentine, lumber, and charcoal.

Switzerland.

In Switzerland forestry received attention from very early times. Nearly two hundred years before the discovery of America the city of Zurich began to make rules for the protection and management of the Sihlwald, a forest which it still owns, and which now yields an annual return of about $8 per acre. In the Canton of Bern a decree of the year 1592 warned the people against the wasteful use of timber and provided for the protection of the forest along various lines. It also directed that for every tree cut down a young one should be planted in its place. It is curious to find this mistaken prescription for the ills of the forest already in fashion more than three centuries ago. To save the forest every old tree must be replaced by many young ones.

The first general forest law of Bern was passed as early as 1725. It embodied the most important principles of wise forest legislation as we know them to-day. But this was only one of a long series of forest laws in which, from the beginning, the idea of the importance of the forest to others besides its owner became steadily stronger. The citizens of Bern have grown ever more willing to place restrictions on themselves for the benefit of the Commonwealth.

There were great floods in Switzerland in 1834, and they were the cause of a general awakening of interest in forestry. Somewhat later a federal forest commission was appointed. Since the appearance of its final report in 1861 the progress of forestry in Switzerland has been steady. In 1875 a federal forest inspector was appointed, and a year later the first Swiss forest law was passed. This law does not extend to the whole of Switzerland, but only to the Alps and the steeper foothills. In a country of steep mountains it is of first importance to guard the forests on these higher slopes. Consequently all the forests on these higher lands which serve to protect the lowlands against floods, avalanches, and other similar dangers of wind and weather are put in charge of the Swiss federal forest service.

A great saying of Landolt.— "Our forest laws," said Elias Landolt, a great and simple man, who name stands first among Swiss foresters, "are intended to work more through instruction, good example, and encouragement than by severe regulations. This method is somewhat slower than one which should involve harsher measures, but the results achieved are more useful and lasting. When forest owners do something because they are convinced of its usefulness it is done well and with an eye to the future, but what they do under compulsion is done carelessly and neglected at the first opportunity. What they have come to learn in this way and have recognized as good will be carried out, and that better and better from year to year."

British India.

For many years after the British conquest forestry in India made very little progress. Much time was wasted in half measures, until in 1856 Dr. (now Sir Dietrich) Brandis was put in charge of the teak forests of Peru. He acted at once upon the idea of preserving them by making them pay. At first the output of teak had to be somewhat restricted, much against the will of the timber merchants of Rangoon, who protested that the business of their city would be ruined. But after this momentary check the teak trade of Rangoon grew until it was far greater than ever before, and it is now a chief and increasing source of the prosperity of that city.

The appointment of Dr. Brandis was the beginning of the Indian forest service. In 1866 he was made inspector-general of forests, and from that time progress was rapid. the Indian forest service now has nearly 300 superior officers and over 10,000 rangers and forest guards. It has charge of about 200,000 square miles of forest, and produces a net revenue, after all expenses have been paid, of about $3,000,000 a year. In addition, the forests furnish to peasant holders of forest rights products whose value is estimated to be considerably greater than the whole cost of the forest service. About 30,000 square miles are effectively protected against fire, at an average yearly cost of less than half a cent per acre. These admirable results are especially interesting because India is like the United States in the great extend and variety of her forests and in the number and fierceness of forest fires.

FORESTRY AT HOME.

The forests of the United States cover an area of about 699,500,000 acres, or more than 35 per cent of the surface of the country. Before so large a part of them was destroyed they were, perhaps, the richest on the earth, and with proper care they are capable of being so again. Their power of reproduction is exceedingly good.

In the Northeastern States, and as far west as Minnesota, once stretched the great white pine forest from which, since settlement began, the greater part of our lumber has come. South of it, in a broad belt along the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts, lies the southern pine forest, whose most important tree, both for lumber and naval stores, is the southern yellow pine. In the Mississippi Valley lies the interior hardwood forest of oaks, hickories, ashes, gums, and other hardwood trees. It is bordered on the west by the plains, which cover the eastern slope of the continental divide until they meet the evergreen Rocky Mountain forest which clothes the slopes of this great range from the Canadian line to Mexico. Separated from the Rocky Mountain forest by the interior deserts, the Pacific Coast forest covers the flanks of the Sierras, the Cascades, and the Coast ranges. Its largest trees are the giant sequoia and the great coast redwood, and its most important timber is the fir.

The forests of the Philippine Islands cover an area of more than 40,000,000 acres. Their timbers, almost wholly different from those of the United States, are exceedingly valuable, both as cabinet woods and as construction timber. An efficient forest service was organized in 1898, and following its reorganization in 1902 a new and excellent forest law was passed in 1904. The Philippine forest service costs but half as much as the revenue received from the forests of the islands.

The island of Porto Rico contains a national forest reserve, the site of which was once covered with valuable hardwoods; but this forest has been much abused. Porto Rico, like the Philippines, has many kinds of wood valuable for cabinetmaking.

THE SETTLER AND THE FOREST.

When the early settlers from the Old World landed on the Atlantic coast of North America they brought with them traditions of respect for the forest created by generations of forest protection at home. The country to which they came was covered, for the most part, with dense forests. There was so little open land that ground had to be cleared for the plow. It is true that the forest gave the pioneers shelter and fuel, and game for food, but it was often filled with hostile Indians, it hemmed them in on every side, and immense labor was required to win from it the soil in which to raise their necessary crops. Naturally, it seemed to them an enemy rather than a friend. Their respect for it dwindled and disappeared, and its place was taken by hate and fear.

The feeling of hostility to the forest which grew up among the early settlers continued and increased among their descendants long after all reason for it had disappeared. But even in the early days far-sighted men began to consider the safety of the forest. In 1653 the authorities of Charlestown, in Massachusetts, forbade the cutting of timber on the town lands without permission from the selectmen, and in 1689 the neighboring town of Malden fixed a penalty of 5 shillings for cutting trees less than 1 foot in diameter for fuel. An ordinance of William Penn, made in 1681, required that 1 acre of land be left covered with trees for every 5 acres cleared. But these measures were not well followed up, and the needless destruction of the forest went steadily on.

FIRST STEPS IN FORESTRY.

More than a hundred years later, in 1795, a committee of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures in New York made a report on the best way to preserve and increase the growth of timber. Four years afterwards Congress appropriated $200,000 for the purchase and preservation of timberlands to supply ship timbers for the Navy, and in 1822, with the same object in view, it authorized the President to employ the Army and Navy, and President to employ the Army and Navy to protect and preserve the live oak and red cedar timber of the Government in Florida. Since that time more and more attention has been given to the forests. In 1828 Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, spoke of the reproduction of our woods as an object of primary importance, and in the same year the Government began an attempt to cultivate live oak in the South for the use of the Navy. Three years later an act was passed which is still almost the only protection for the much-abused forests of the public domain.

In 1872 the Yellowstone National Park was established, and in 1873 Congress passed the timber-culture act, which gave Government land in the treeless regions to whoever would plant one-fourth of his claim with trees. In 1875, the American Forestry Association was formed in Chicago through the efforts of Dr. John A. Warder, who was one of the first men to agitate forest questions in the United States. In the centennial year (1876) Dr. Franklin B. Hough, perhaps the foremost pioneer of forestry in America was appointed special agent in the Department of Agriculture was established as a division in 1881.

About this time forest associations began to be established in the different States, the most influential and effective of which has been that in Pennsylvania. The States Also began to form forest boards or commissions of their own.

In 1888 the first forest bill was introduced in Congress. It failed to pass, but in 1891 an act was passed which was the first step toward a true policy for the forests of the nation. The first step toward national forestry is control of the national forests. This act, whose chief purpose was to repeal the timber-culture act, contained a clause which authorized the President to reserve timberlands on the public domain, and so prevent them from passing out of the possession of the Government.

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

In all the states except Texas, and in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, all the land originally belonged to the Government. This was the public domain. It has gradually been sold or given away until in many of the States it has all or nearly all passed to other owners. But it still includes more than 470,000,000 acres, or nearly one-third of the United States, not including the Territory of Alaska, which has an area of about 350,000,000 acres. A large part of the public domain has been surveyed by the Government and divided first into squares of 1 mile, called sections, and these again into quarter sections and smaller divisions. The lines which mark these divisions are straight and at right angles to each other. When any part of the public domain is reserved or disposed of it is usually located by reference to these lines.

FEDERAL FOREST RESERVES.

When the President was given the power to make forest reserves, the public domain still contained much of the best timber in the West, but it was passing rapidly into private hands. Acting upon the wise principle that forests whose preservation is necessary for the general welfare should remain in Government control, President Harrison created the first forest reserves. President Cleveland followed his example. But there was yet no systematic plan for the making or management of the reserves, which at that time were altogether without protection by the Government. Toward the end of President Cleveland's second Administration, therefore, the National Academy of Sciences was asked to appoint a commission to examine the national forest lands and report a plan for their control. The academy did so, and upon the recommendation of the National Forest Commission so appointed, President Cleveland doubled the reserved area by setting aside 13 additional forest reserves on Washington's Birthday, 1897.

The Cleveland forest reserves awakened at once great opposition in Congress and throughout the West, and led to a general discussion of the forest policy. But after several years of controversy widespread approval took the place of opposition, and at present the value of the forest reserves is rarely disputed, except by private interests impatient of restraint.

The recommendations of the National Forest Commission for the management of the forest reserves were not acted upon by Congress, but the law of June 4, 1897, gave the Secretary of the Interior authority to protect the reserves and make them useful. The passage of this law was the first step toward a national forest service. The second step was the act of Congress, approved February 1, 1905, which transferred the control of the national forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture. This act consolidated the Government's forest work, which had been divided between the General Land Office and the Bureau of Forestry, and secured for the reserves the supervision of trained foresters.

President McKinley and after him President Roosevelt continued to make forest reserves. The latter introduced a system of examining the proposed forest reserves, so that now their boundaries are better located than ever before. Under him great progress has been made by the Government in bringing about the practice of forestry by forest owners and in awakening the great lumber interests, as well as the people in general, to the dangers of forest destruction.

The forest reserves lie chiefly in high mountain regions. They are 62 in number, and cover an area (January 1, 1905) of 63,308,319 acres. They are useful first of all to protect the drainage basins of streams used for irrigation, and especially the watersheds of the great irrigation works which the Government is constructing under the reclamation law, which was passed in 1902. This is their most important use. Secondly, they supply grass and other forage for many thousands of grazing animals during the summer, when the lower ranges on the plains and deserts are barren and dry. Lastly, they furnish a permanent supply of wood for the use of settlers, miners, lumbermen, and other citizens. This is at present the least important use of the reserves, but it will be of greater consequence hereafter. The best way for the Government to promote each of these three great uses is to protect the forest reserves from fire.

STATE FORESTRY.

Many of the States have taken great and effective interest in forestry. Among those which have made most progress are New York and Pennsylvania. New York has a State forest preserve of 1,436,686 acres, and Pennsylvania one of 700,000 acres. Michigan, Minnesota, and other States are rapidly following their example.

In 1892 the first example of systematic forestry in the United States was begun at Biltmore, in North Carolina. It is still in successful operation.

The first professional foresters in the United States were obliged to go abroad for their training, but in 1898 professional forest schools were established at Cornell University in New York, and at Biltmore, in North Carolina, and they were followed by the Yale Forest School in 1900. Others have sprung up since. At present, thorough and efficient training in professional forestry can be had in the United States.

THE END.