SUITED FOR PLANTING. 297 



excellent situation for them, and here they show a growth second 

 only to tliat on lime, basalt, and diabas. Diorite, seldom occur- 

 ring extensively, and always yielding a poor, stony soil, is scarce 

 suited for any of our forest trees, certainly not for those that 

 make great claims on mineral strength. Ash, maples, and elms 

 thrive on the strong, fresh, fertile soils produced by the decom- 

 position of basalt, (Bromberg am Soiling), diabas, or melaphyr 

 (Ilfeld am Harz, see page ), and tliese may be considered some 

 of the natural situations of those trees ; they are clayey, but con- 

 tain in general an admixture of lime. 



In favourable situations they grow well over the mild, blueish 

 soils of tlie clay slates of the Laurentian and Cambrian systems^ 

 but not on the shallow, stony, quartzy varieties. On the loose, 

 shallow, stony kinds of the Silurian and Devonian systems they 

 ought not to be reared, but their cultivation on the more sandy 

 or loamy soils of the sandstones and conglomerates will be much 

 better rewarded, as may be proved by inspecting some parts of 

 Oberforsterei Lauterberg am Harz. Tiie Permian system does 

 not, on tlie whole, yield a favourite soil for the trees under con- 

 sideration; occasionally they grow well on fresh northern slopes on 

 the clayey soils of the slaty clays and clayey sandstones (parts of 

 Eisenacher Forstrevier) ; but on those poorer in every respect 

 arising from the decomposition of the more quartzy conglomerate 

 they are not to be looked for. 



Sandy Soils.— T\\Q sands, loamy sands, and sandy loams of the 

 hunter sandstein are not so well adapted for them, although on 

 the better, fresh, loamy varieties, where the muschelkalk begins, 

 maple, sycamore, and elms are occasionally met with among 

 beeches, much less frequently, however, the ash. (Forstrevier 

 Eothenkirchen, Hanover). 



The deep, yellow, fertile, loamy Keuper sands seem more 

 favourable to the growth of ash, maples, and elms, which here 

 often yield most valuable timber ; on the upper sandy deposits 

 they do not thrive, as these are less earthy and more siliceous. 

 (Forests N. W. of Eisenach). The fresh, more or less marly, sandy 

 loams of the Lias sands are remarkably well adapted for their 

 growth, and here timber of high value is produced, as on the 

 better Keuper sands. The looser sands of the greenstone (Deister 

 Hills, bei Hanover) are by no means the home of the ash, maples, 

 and elms, which are rare on that range of hills. The deep, fresh,, 

 loamy sands of the Tertiary and post-Tertiary systems nourish 

 them well, and here they may be grown extensively. Not so^ 

 however, in regard to the dry, loose, quartzy sands of the north 

 German plain, where they do not occur as forest trees. 



Limy Soils. — The less stony, fresh, fertile, strong mineral 

 soils of the clayey limes of the muschelkalk. Lias, and more 

 recent formations may be viewed as the true home of ash, maples^ 



