This publication is the result of a series of 25 lectures which the
writer was invited to deliver before the students of forestry in Yale
University as a part of their regular course of instruction during the
session of 1904.
Circumstances made it desirable, in the absence of any existing
textbooks on the subject, to print at once, for the sake of ready
reference, the substance of the lectures while they were being
delivered.
This statement of the manner in which the book came into existence will
explain and, it is hoped, excuse the crudities of style, which has been
also hampered by the necessity of condensation.
The main object was to bring together the information, now scattered and
mostly inaccessible to English or American readers: the style has been
sacrificed to brevity; it is a book of expanded lecture notes.
In the nature of the case the book does not lay claim to any originality
except in the manner of presentation, being merely a compilation of
facts gathered mostly from other compilations, official documents and
journals.
For none of the countries discussed does a complete work on the history
of forests and forestry exist, excepting in the case of Germany, which
can boast of a number of comprehensive works on the subject. It was,
therefore, possible to treat that country more _in extenso_. Moreover,
it appeared desirable to enlarge upon the history of that country, since
it is pre-eminently in the lead in forestry matters and has passed
through all the stages of development of forest policies and forestry
practice, which, with more or less variations must be repeated in other
countries.
Especially the growth of the technical science and art of forestry,
which has been developed in Germany for a longer time and to a more
refined degree than in other countries, has been elaborated in the
chapter relating to that country.
For some of the other countries available sources of information were
quite limited. The writer believes, however, that for the purpose of
this brief statement the data collected will be found sufficient.
In order to make conditions existing in the different countries and
their causes more readily understood it appeared desirable to give very
brief historic references to their political and economic development
and also brief statements of their general physical conditions.
Present conditions of forest policy and forest administration have
sometimes been enlarged upon beyond the requirements of historical
treatment.
ITHACA, N.Y., May, 1907.