298 ON THE SOILS AND SUBSOILS 



and elms. Here tliey may be mixed on northern slopes in a 

 liigher percentage than elsewhere in beech forests. The soil is 

 strong and rich in humns, and when the ground is well guarded 

 against the inHuence of the sun's rays, it is fresh, at times even 

 moist, and capable of producing the finest timber, especially 

 Avhere the subsoil is a little cleft, and not in unbroken more or 

 less horizontal layers. 



They also thrive well on the fresh, milder, more loamy dolo- 

 mitic limes {e.g., Altenstein, in the Thuringer Wald), but on the 

 shallower, more strong varieties, which are usually dry, they 

 seldom occur ; this remark applies especially to the deep-rooting 

 elms. 



Clayey and Marly Soils. — The slaty clays, chiefly of the 

 bunter sandstein formation, with their loose, red, friable clayey 

 soil, are, when rich in vegetable mould, and tlius rendered fresh 

 and a little binding, suitable for the cultivation of the trees 

 under consideration (e.g., many parts of Soiling Hills near the 

 Weser). Where the deep, fresh, highly fertde, clayey, limy, or 

 loamy soils, arising from the marls that occur so abundantly in 

 the more recent formations are still forest ground, they find an 

 admirable soil, which satisfies the requirements of any of our 

 forest trees. 



Mixed Forest of Beech, Ash, Ma/plcs, and Elm. — Seeing that 

 these trees satisfy tolerably well the rules which nature seems to 

 have laid down in regard to mixed timber forests, and which we 

 have given when treating of the oak in l)eech forests, we now 

 notice how they are to be introduced into beech forests, and how 

 treated when found there. When the fellings preparatory to the 

 natural reproduction by seed of the beech are completed, and a 

 seed year for the beech is at hand, as may be seen during the 

 winter and spring, the seed of the ash, maples, and elms should in 

 the course of the spring be sown here and there, singly rather than 

 in groups, for, owing to their light, thin foliage, they would in later 

 years allow the sun to impoverish the soil. By these means they 

 get a slight advance of the beech, and having a thin foliage, do 

 not inflict much injury by overshadowing it. Where these 

 young plants are, however, the after clearances must not be long 

 delayed, for they do not bear the shade well. Should the natural 

 reproduction of the beech already have taken place, it is not too 

 late to come with the above-mentioned trees, but then it must be 

 by means of planting here and there, on spots exposed to the 

 sunlight they should be planted, always allowing them a year or 

 two in advance of the surrounding beeches. Later on, at all 

 thinnings, they, if in good growth, must have a free crown, even 

 at the expense of a few beeches. As they are capable of pro- 

 ducing good seed sooner than the beech, from the fiftieth to the 

 seventieth year onwards, while by the latter it commences with the 



