Pre-industrial forests in Central Europe as objects of historico ...

10
• Such approaches are to be closely connected with research on the change of the inner condition of
the forests 120 with the aim of obtaining a regional balance of forest conditions in space and time as
composition and condition of the vegetation are likewise parameters for the above-mentioned processes
121 as well as their results. It is thus necessary to include historic forest-use methods in its
whole breadth, among others with a view to the form of stock and the composition of varieties as
H. Rubner 122 did for the coppice-with-standards, in order to develop a most visual representation of
the condition of the forest at that time. Just how necessary this is is clearly shown in the difficulties
of a museum-didactic presentation of old landscape conditions in the form of exhibitions 123 .
• Quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of the forest should not be treated isolated
from the social, economic and political conditions of their users. The transition to other forest-uses
influenced permanently the economic development potential and thus the social and demographic
development of a region or vice versa 124 . The propagation of forest law 125 and its realisation in silvicultural
practice depends to a great extent on the effectivity of silvicultural administration, the
ownership conditions and the socio-economic conditions in the area of demand around a forest.
Historic forest research must therefore take into consideration the regional geography of a certain
area under the influence of economic and legal prerequisites typical of that time (cf. Fig. 2 as example)
126 .
• The object of current discussion in the era of Waldsterben 127 are questions on game stock, in particular
of hoofed game, as to its importance on forest development. In spite of research for some
years now by Schwenk 128 from the viewpoint of historic geography there are still gaps in our
knowledge on game population especially before 1800. Knowing full well the problems of interpreting
relevant sources (list of shootings, hunting dues etc.) before the background of the fact that
even using modern counting methods the number of deer observed stands in no proportion to the
actual number existing 129 it would nevertheless, for several reasons, be useful to obtain reliable information.
The game population determined to a great extent the economic welfare of a region during
early modern times 130 . It can, moreover, be a co-indicator for the regeneration and ecological
stability of historic forests. Research into historic game populations is thus inseparably connected to
the development of forests and corresponds with conceptions of hunting and forest 131 . In general,
examination should be made as to how much the game population differed regionally, i.e. under
domain/state direction and under the influence of the human population density and structure 132 .
Obviously baroque hunting enthusiasm has often been overestimated in its influence on silviculture
and has been seen too much as a whole 133 . The systematic examination of early modern hunting extent
would, using knowledge of specific demands of the animals on their environment 134 , also create
the possibility of proving that various forms of biocoenobitism are reflected in it, in which case