File:Davos, Switzerland (1915).jpg

Title: American forestry Identifier: americanforestry2121915amer Year: 1910-1923 (1910s) Authors: American Forestry Association Subjects: Forests and forestry Publisher: Washington, D. C. : American Forestry Association Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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Text Appearing Before Image: 848 AMERICAN FORESTRY

Text Appearing After Image: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, IN SUMMER. Showing the type of municipal and cantonal forests, some of the former of which produce an annual net profit of as much as $14 an acre, and some of the latter yield as high as $8 an acre, which steady and ever-increasing revenue helps to reduce taxation in Switzerland to a minimum.

However, only in the eighteenth century was there voiced a general demand for better cultivation and preservation of the forests and in this respect the cantons of Zurich, Berne and Aargau were the leaders, with the others following after a short interval. The latest statistics of forestation in Switzerland show that 22.7 per cent of the entire area of Switzerland is covered with forests; 52.1 per cent is devoted to agriculture and pastures and 25.2 per cent is non-productive soil (rivers, lakes, roads, railways, building sites, rocks, glaciers, etc.).

Of the productive soil in Switzerland, 30.4 per cent is thus devoted to forests and 69.6 to agricultural purposes. Statistics further show that about 67 per cent of these forests belong to individual villages or cities: 28.5 per cent are private property and 4.5 per cent only pertain to individual cantons. The ownership by canton, village or private persons shows a remarkable variation in the case of each canton and we thus find that the cantonal governments of Valais, Ticino, Grisons and Uri possess practically no forests. The biggest percentage of forests owned by villages—94.3 per cent—is however, found in the Valais, and the highest percentage of private-owned forests—78.8 per cent—is to be found in the canton of Lucerne. The most extensive forest conservation is be found in the Jura region of Switzerland, in the cantons of Schaffhausen, Aargau, Basel (Land), Soleure, Berne, Neuchâtel and Vaud, where as much as 60 per cent of the productive soil is devoted to forestation. While the high

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