230 ON THE COESICAN FIR. 



mingled with stones and rocks, which, after having been formerly 

 cleared of old timber, was used for grazing, much to the detriment 

 of the young plants, that, browsed on by the cattle, became 

 deformed, and did not fully protect the ground against the com- 

 bined action of the sun's rays and the winds. A limy soil, when 

 directly acted on by the light and heat of the sun and exposed 

 to the winds, soon becomes overrun with weeds and grasses {e.g., 

 Kceleria cristata, Bracliypodiuin 'pinnatum, 3Iclica ciliata, Stiim 

 jpennata, Festuca glauca, Car ex glauca, and when more or less 

 dried up, Sesleria ccerulea and Festuca ovina). If measures be 

 not at once taken to restore a protection for the moisture in the 

 soil, the growth of the trees becomes languid, the hues of the 

 orchids and others of the lime flora disappear from the eye, and 

 gradually grasses, such as the above-mentioned, gain the upper 

 hand, and in turn become sickly and deformed ; the surface soil 

 is impoverished, leaving an unwelcome field open not only for the 

 ingenuity, but also for the patience and perseverance of the 

 forester to whom the laborious task of planting up such wastes is 

 assigned. The reclaiming of such land is one of the most 

 difficult and trying tasks the forester can undertake. Sowing 

 operations will in most cases be found not very successful, and 

 recourse will usually be had to planting. In dry years a high 

 percentage of the young plants will die off; as the snow melts in 

 spring, and in wet years, they will often be washed down the hill 

 sides, and the necessary repairs in the plantations may require to 

 be made several times, and thereby become very expensive for 

 the proprietor. Such rehoisements — we speak of lime — are gener- 

 ally carried out by the aid of the Corsican fir. As examples may 

 be quoted, the planting up of the Weperberg at Fredelsloh (in the 

 Hanoverian Oberforsterei Iiotheukirchen), a very exposed hill of 

 Muschelkalk between the Leine valley and the Soiling hills, and 

 of the Muschelkalk hills opposite the village of Fischbach, near 

 Eisenach. When the soil has lost almost all its vegetable covering, 

 then seed of some of the lime-loving grasses already named ouglit 

 to be sown before the planting up is carried out ; in wet years 

 they prevent the surface soil from being washed away easily, and 

 when drought prevails they always afford some little protection 

 for the small quantity of moisture contained therein. 



In parts of the " Eiesengebirge " of Silesia, as also in the 

 communal forests of Arnsberg in Westphalia, experiments have 

 been made to acclimatise the Corsican fir, and these promise well, 

 although the plantations are not very old. At the latter place 

 the cultivation of the Weymouth pine {Pinus Strohus) had pre- 

 viously been tried, but was found not to answer so well. 



The forest district " Steinberg" (in the Hanoverian Oberfor- 

 sterei Dickholzen, near Hildesheim) is a hill belonging to the 

 Keuper formation. In tlie valley below there is a maisliy soil,oji 



