Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/338

326 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE the succession of crops, the fallow year, the raising of" stock, the irrigating of meadows, the forestry, &c. No profit might be made, no straw, hay, or other fodder, or raw material might be exported, and no manufacture carried on without the permission of the parish authorities. Agricultural science and forestry made decided progress at the close of the Middle Ages ; and we find special attention paid to regulations for thinning, which had hitherto been done in such a manner as to leave large tracts in the forest bare. For instance, a law was made in Ober-Winterthur, in 1472, that ' It shall be decided each year what trees can be cut down without injury.' Of still later date we find 'cutting laws' for the Khenish communal forests. Great care was bestowed on replacing the trees which had been cut down by others whose wood was best suited to the re- quirements of the age. Oak and beech trees, for in- stance, were specially cultivated when pigs formed an important item of farm profit. The cultivation of trees in the sixteenth century left little for modern times to improve : the acorns were planted, and then the sap- lings transplanted and surrounded by hedges. In order to give an idea of the extent to which the pork trade was carried on in the fifteenth century we will cite only one fact. In 1473 thirty-five thousand pigs belonging to the tenants of the bishopric of Spires, and eight thousand from the Palatine possessions, besides many others belonging to those having forest rights, were sent to eat acorns in the wood of Lusshart, between Bruchsal and Philipsburg. Dating from the middle of the fifteenth century are innumerable forest laws, but as they emanated from the