THE SIHLWALD 



An Example 

 By HARRINGTON MOORE, M. F. 



^^s^HE first stage of the forestry movement in the United States has been char- 

 ^ J acterized chiefly by eftorts toward preventing forest destruction. A cam- 

 paign was waged with such fierceness that there was danger of forgetting 

 what forestry means to substitute for destruction. The following article is a 

 single example of what forestry accomplishes, perhaps not for many years in the 

 I'nited States, but in a part of Europe where it has long been recognized and 

 where most conditions are favorable. 



In Switzerland less than twenty miles from Ztirich lies the Sihlwald. This 

 fore.st is on a river, the Sihl, which flows into Lake Constance; it belongs to 

 the city of Zurich which itself controls the entire management. This forest 

 has only approximately 2,5(>0 acres, small as compared with forests in the 

 United States, but of considerable importance. 



The first cutting in this forest was in 12.50, over 7G0 years ago. There was 

 then no forest management, but a crude regulation, because cutting has been 

 on the same rotation (period of years between the formation of a piece of 

 forest and tlie time it is cut) ever since. The first actual management of the 

 forest dates from 1S02, and the first working plan was not made until 1845. 

 Therefore, if we in the United States, where the word forestry less than ten 

 years ago meant nothing, have as yet almost no working plans, we need not be 

 discouraged. 



The climate of the region is very much like that of northern New England, 

 only slightly colder; the chief controlling factor, precipitation, is about the 

 same, approximately 5G inches; heavy snows, causing considerable damage 

 in the forest have been known as earlv as September 28th and as late as 

 May 23rd. 



The forest is composed chiefly of beech : This species forms 70 per cent 

 of the total stand ; ash and maple (three kinds of maple) form 15 per cent; and 

 the remainder is made u\> of conifers, chiefly spruce, with some silver fir, larch 

 and a little Scotch pine. The rock is a soft brown sandstone, largely decom- 

 posed, and covered with nmny glacial moraines and gravels. The soil is sandy 

 with enough clay to jirevent too great porosity, and with abundant moisture. 



The management of this forest will be of great interest to all who know or 

 care anything about forestry, whether technically trained or not. In the 

 first place there is an excellent toi)ogra])hic map on a scale of 1 in 2,000, or 

 approximately Gi/o inches to the mile, large enough to include an abundance 

 of valuable detail; with a contour interval of two meters (about (ii-o feet); 

 the important forest tyjies; and also the working circles and compartments. 



A working circle, as cvei-ybcKly knows, is a part of any forest tributary 

 to a certain market, and from which a sustained yield of timber is obtained. 

 Part of the working circle is cut each year until the whole has been covered; 

 by the time the last part has been utilized tlie first part is ready to be cut again. 



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