paid Commission and advised the appointment of three unpaid Commissioners. This recommendation was adopted in the establishment of the present Commission.

The object had in view in appointing a Forest Commission was, generally, "the preservation of the forests." For the time being this could have meant little more than to stop the work of destruction, drive away timber thieves and trespassers, take efficient means to prevent forest fires, which had been so disastrous, and save to the State so much of its forests as were still in existence. Forest creation and forest culture, tree planting, sowing, thinning and all that pertains to strict methods of forest science, if contemplated at all, were held to be matters of the future. Denuded lands were, however, to be allowed to grow up to forests again in due course of time, by natural processes.

Those who were best qualified to judge deemed preservation of forests essential:

First. For the value of the timber, both present and future. With our rapidly growing population the demand for timber is daily increasing, while the supply is rapidly decreasing.

Second. For the value of our forests as sanitariums - health resorts for invalids, summer breathing places for all.

Third. For the conservation of our sources of water supply. Both science and observation agree that forests are the great reservoirs that hoard the rainfall to feed our brooks and rivers. The streams of Europe, it is well known, have shrunk as the forests have been cut away. Our own streams are following on in the same track, and the destruction of our forests cannot but lead to the same disastrous results that long ago came to the old world.

Fourth. For the increase of rainfall. Cautious scientific men are not yet ready to assert positively that forests increase the rainfall, but the theory has many supporters, and the belief is fast growing that forests are such an important factor in supplying moisture that it is a most dangerous policy to strip our country of its trees.

Fifth. For the climatic and sanitary influence of forests. There can be little doubt that forests are great equalizers of temperature, render the surrounding country less liable to violent winds, absorb maiarial and noxious vapors and act in many ways beneficially to human health.

With all these facts in view and to help in attaining the purposes hinted at, the Forest Commission was established. It will be readily seen that theirs was not the work of a day. They were to begin at the very beginning, with little assistance in regard to theory or practice. The work to be done looked to the future and was to stretch over considerable periods of years. The investigating committee of 1884 comprehended and laid much stress on this. "The work," they said in their report, "will, especially at the outset, be of a character requiring undivided official attention; a careful study of business and scientific problems which are new in this country; the opportunity to conduct without interruption experiments stretching over several years, and a good knowledge of the varied relations of the forest problem as well as of the general interests of the State. The members (of the Forest Commission) should serve for considerable periods of time, in order that a fixed policy may be assured." This is too obvious to need argument. It is too late to question the desirability of the ends to be gained, and to gain these ends a definite and fixed method should be pursued. Any change of policy means delay and delay implies greater difficulties to be encountered and greater expenses to be incurred in the coming years.

FORESTS AND FORESTRY.

Historical records give us good reason to believe that the surface of the habitable earth was, with few exceptions, covered with a forest growth before it became the abode of man. This is inferred from the extensive vegetable remains, trunks, branches, roots, fruits, seeds and leaves of trees, so often found in conjunction with works of primitive art, in the boggy soil of districts where no forests appear to have existed within the era through which written annals reach; from ancient historical records which prove that large provinces, where the earth has long been bare of trees, were dotted with vast, almost unbroken woods, when first made known to Greek and Roman civilization; and from the state of much of North and South America when they were discovered and colonized by the European race*. When man first found himself obliged to subsist by tilling the soil he began to cut down the trees. They were, in some sort, his natural enemies—they stood in the way between

Marsh's Man and Nature.

him and existence. As men multiplied the forests decreased. Fires and wars and wanton waste assisted the work of their destruction until the hand of civilization had robbed the old world of its forests as it is now making sad havoc with those of the new. In most parts of Europe the woods have been so nearly extirpated that mere protection of those that exist is considered by no means an adequate remedy for the evils resulting from the want of them; hence the great effort that is being made to supply their place by extensive tree plantations. Even in England, in spite of forest laws and other vigorous legislation, the forests have disappeared, until indigenous timber is extremely scarce there. In the reign of Henry VIII. we find old Thomas Tusser complaining that "men were more studious to cut down trees than to plant them," and Evelyn, in his "Silva, or, a Discourse of Forest Trees," warns the English people that "this destruction (of forests) is now become so epidemical that unless some favorable expedient offers itself, and a way be seriously and speedily resolved upon for a future store, one of the most glorious and considerable bulwarks of this nation will, within a short time, be totally wanting to it."

At the present day forest plantations in England are large, well cared for, and yield considerable revenue. The total area of woodlands in Great Britain is stated at 2,515,491 acres, chiefly private property, as the Crownlands are only 125,000 acres. Natural indigenous timber is very scarce, and the woodlands consist almost entirely of plantations, which have been reared and are cared for at a large cost. Though they yield a good annual revenue the supply of timber obtained is a small fraction of that required for use in England, which is mainly furnished by importation from America and northern Europe. The prophecy of Evelyn has been fulfilled. The history of forests in England is practically that of all Europe; the original forests have been swept off and their places partially supplied by plantations at a great expense.

Forests are now regarded as of the greatest importance in the general economy of the earth, influencing the humidity of the air and the soil, mitigating the extremes of heat and cold, enriching the soil, supplying timber and fuel and furnishing a great variety of economical products. The physical history of every country proves that a moderate amount of forest promotes, in a high degree, both its agricultural and manufacturing interests, as well as

the productive resources of the country at large, and the beneficial influence of forests in a physical, economical and hygienic aspect is now receiving more of the attention that its importance deserves. The countries bordering on the Mediterranean have all suffered severely from the reckless and wholesale destruction of the woods which covered the mountain slopes, and many springs which formerly existed under the shelter of the forest have wholly disappeared. There can be no doubt that one of the causes of the terrible famines in India and China is the denudation of mountain slopes where the forests formerly absorbed a large portion of the rainfall which now runs off to the sea.

FOREST SCHOOLS.

Under the pressure of the necessity felt to restore the lost forests, the system of reconstruction and administration of forests has advanced in Europe to a science. Forestry, or silvaculture, has become a separate branch of education, in which Germany has taken the lead. France, Italy, Sweden, and even Russia, have successively established forest academies, and now the conservation of woodlands occupies the legislation of almost all civilized countries. There is no separate school of forestry in Great Britain (unless quite recently established) and no legislation with regard to forest management. As the government, as before stated, has but a small proprietary interest in woodlands it has never interested itself sufficiently to establish forest academies, and does not undertake to control private management. Private owners are eager enough to conserve and develop their forests. Both education and educated men are easily obtainable from Germany and France, and forests are well managed. The Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland grants certificates, on examination, for proficiency in the theory and practice of forestry, and excellent instruction is given on collateral subjects at Edinburgh, Cirncester, Dublin and at other places.

Training at the forest academies on the continent is very rigid and the methods pursued in forest culture are based on years of scientific, as well as practical, experiments and investigation. As a sample let us look at the academy at Tharand, in Saxony, which enjoys a high reputation. The village is picturesquely situated on the River Weisserwitz. There is a large tract of wood

land in the environs, owned by the State, and set apart chiefly for the use of the students. The object of the academy, as announced in the prospectus, is "to fit scientific foresters, through comprehensive instruction in forestry and its fundamental and kindred sciences, for a rational exercise of their vocation, as well as to promote the development of forestry in general." There are twelve professors, and the course of study, for which three years is required, is given in the following plan :

Natural Science.- General, technical and agricultural chemistry; mineralogy; geognosy, with particular reference to the knowledge of the soil; general botany; anatomy and physiology of plants; forestrial botany; general zoology; science of the vertebrates; forestrial entomology; plant diseases; physics; meteorology.

Mathematics,--Fundamental mathematics; differential and integral calculus; surveying, including plan drawing; mechanics and machine construction; road construction; general agriculture.

Special Preparatory Sciences.- History and literature of forest management; cultivation and protection of forests; forest mathematics (study of measuring wood, standing and cut; calculation of increase by growth; forestry finance, etc.); uses of forest productions and technology; art of dividing forests into districts; administration of forests, with especial reference to forest government in Saxony; policing of forests; art of hunting.

Supplementary Kindred Sciences.— Science of finance; jurisprudence; theory of agriculture-rural economy; meadow cultivation.

Much time is devoted to the study of plant diseases, fungus growth and injuries done by insects. The schedule of studies includes a close investigation of the habits of trees; when and where they should be planted; how the climate affects their growth and vigor; the proper preparation of the ground where they are to be planted; at what season and in what manner they are to be felled; how trees are selected for cutting, with instructions as to the proper tools to be used; the terms of maturity of different kinds of trees; methods of thinning the forest (interlucation); the use of the different woods and how they are best employed mechanically, (e. g., for different parts of carriages and wagons, railway coaches, ships, furniture, tool handles, carpenter's work, dams, etc., very much in detail); methods of preserving woods; methods of