IIO
Agriccltuke on the khine.
feet in length, with 3 to 4 feet circumference at 30 feet
from the root, is now 7⅛d,. per cubic foot in the forest,
or 9<Z. to 10<7. delivered at any spot on the Rhine. Fire-
wood (beech) has risen from 3∣cZ. to 4⅛√. per cubic foot,
an advance that renders the whole fuel consumed 30 per
cent, dearer than in 1833. That this is oppressively felt
is evident from the large proportion of wood consumed
as fuel, which in Baden is 70 per cent, of the wood an-
nually felled, but which in Hesse, that is less favourably
situated for exportation, amounts to 94 per cent, of the
whole.
The rise in the price of wood is the more remarkable
that it stands alone amongst the products of agriculture,
as is shown by the following comparison of the values of
timber and grain for long periods in Baden and Wirtem-
berg :—
|
Years |
Price of wood. |
Price of corn. | ||||
|
Average. |
Beech. |
Fir. | ||||
|
Wheat. |
Barley. |
Wine. | ||||
|
1640-1680 |
, 1 |
1 |
1 |
I |
1 |
1 |
|
1690-1730 |
. I∙32 |
Γ54 |
1’10 |
1∙49 |
1∙46 |
•8 |
|
1740-1780 |
. 3∙77 |
3∙62 |
3∙93 |
1∙54 |
1∙25 |
Γ6 |
|
1790-1830 |
. 10’73 |
919 |
14∙27 |
2 |
1∙72 |
4 |
This highly interesting table, which we borrow from
a recent publication, shows that a moderate price of corn
in no way reduces the value of other agricultural pro-
ducts. As we have already said, cheap food contributes
to raise the demand for other things. This is evinced as
well by the price of wine, in the last column, as by that
of fire-wood ; and it is further proved, if not by in-
creasing prices, at least by the increasing consumption of
all articles of clothing. But a rise in the price of fuel is
in itself a national evil where the climate demands arti-
ficial heat, as is the case in Central Europe. The bad
λgkicultijre on the ruine.
111
effects of the rise in this indispensable article are ex-
hibited by a table published officially in Baden, and
which deserves to be placed by the side of the table
drawn up by M. Quetelet, and published in a recent
volume of the Belgian Statistical Society’s Transactions.
Thenumberofconvictions for wood-stealing in the Grand
Duchy of Baden was, in proportion to the population,
|
In 1836 as 1 |
to 6∙1 inhabitants. | |||||
|
if |
1837 |
» |
1 |
ff |
5∙2 |
>» |
|
ff |
1838 |
If |
1 |
ff |
4∙7 |
» |
|
5> |
1839 |
ff |
1 |
f> |
4∙7 |
» |
|
)« |
1840 |
ff |
1 |
ff |
4∙5 |
jj |
|
1841 |
ff |
1 |
ff |
4∙6 |
ff | |
|
a |
1842 |
JJ |
1 |
ff |
4∙0 |
if |
|
D |
1843 |
JJ |
1 |
ff |
4∙7 |
a |
With the rise in price noted in the former table but
one, the number of offences increased, and this number
in 1843 showed a tendency to diminish, although slightly.
In Bavaria, where wood is but about half the price, the
number of convictions for stealing in forests amounts but
to 1 in 22 inhabitants.
The periods for clearing and thinning timber-forests
are shown by the tables to be in the 30th, 60th, 90th,
120th, and 150th years. The wood gained upon a
Prussian morgen (l-∣6u English acres) at these various
periods, reduced to the measure usual on the Rhine—the
“klafter” of 108 cubic feet—is, according to our au-
thority,
On the 1st clearing ɪ klafter, and 150 faggots in the 30th year.
„ 2nd „ lɪ
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Cth
7th
2
3
5
6
10
The felling 40 trees containing
„ 40 „
50 „
50 „
50 „
50 „
100 „
450 „
75 cubic ft.
37⅜ „
GOth
70 th
90th
IlOth
130th
150th