Georg Ludwig Hartig (September 2, 1764 - February 2, 1837), German agriculturist and writer on forestry, was born at Gladenbach, near Marburg.

After obtaining a practical knowledge of forestry at Harzburg, he studied from 1781 to 1783 at the university of Giessen. In 1786 he became manager of forests to the prince of Solms-Braunfels at Hungen in the Wetterau , where he founded a school for the teaching of forestry.

After obtaining in 1797 the appointment of inspector of forests to the prince of Orange-Nassau, he continued his school of forestry at Dillenburg, where the attendance thereat increased considerably. On the dissolution of the principality by Napoleon I in 1805 he lost his position, but in 1806 he went as chief inspector of forests to Stuttgart, whence in 1811 he was called to Berlin in a like capacity. There he continued his school of forestry, and succeeded in connecting it with the university of Berlin, where in 1830 he was appointed an honorary professor.

He died at Berlin on the 2nd of February 1837. His son Theodor (1805-1880), and grandson Robert (1839-1901), were also distinguished for their contributions to the study of forestry.

GL Hartig was the author of a number of valuable works:

• Lehrbuch fur Jager (Stuttgart, 1810)
• Lehrbuch fur Forster (3 vols, Stuttgart, 1808)
• Kubiktabellen fur geschnittene, beschlagene, and runde Holzer (1815, 10th ed. Berlin, 1871)
• Lexikon fur lager and Jagdfreunde (1836, 2nd ed. Berlin, 1859-1861)

Theodor Hartig and his son Robert also published numerous works dealing with forestry, one of the latter's books being translated into English by W Somerville and H Marshall Ward as Diseases of Trees (1894).