AMERICAN TREES IN GERMAN FORESTS 



923 



The seed of black locust was first sent to Euroijc in 

 Kidl. This tree was among the first plants carried to 

 Euroi)e, and has since been projiagated so extensively 

 that it is now regarded as naturalized in every part of 

 the eni])ire except the northeast. The fear of a fuel 



YKLLOW PUPtAR TKKR 



Twenty inches in diameter and located in the old castle yard at 

 Ilerrenchiemsee, Bavaria, Germany. The trees to the left are black 

 locust. 



famine, about 1T90, prompted the Hes- 

 sian .soldiers to make extensive importa- 

 tions of this species. They regarded it 

 as the savior of the nation. The impor- 

 tation decreased, however, as the fear of 

 the fuel famine subsided and as the 

 \alue of the native beech became more 

 fully known, largely through the efforts 

 of George L. Hartig. At present one 

 usually finds this tree in small open plan- 

 taticms upon poor sites, on the banks of 

 railroad cuts where it acts as an excellent 

 soil binder, and along avenues where it 

 usually has lieen decapitated with tlie 

 pruning shears until but a vestige of 

 life apparently seems to remain. lUack 

 locust has passed its high-water mark in 

 (".ermany. but has by no means fallen 

 into disreinite. It is still planted as a 

 lawn, park and street tree, and in the 

 forests upon very poor and sterile sites. 

 It seems to be freer from insect pests and fungal diseases 

 in Germany than in .\merica. 

 The red oak was introduced into Europe as early as 



1740. It has at [iresent the widest distribution in Ger- 

 many of any American hardwood tree of commercial 

 importance. Jn the state of Baden alone in 1909 about 

 -l.'iC acres were stocked with this species, ranging in age 

 from one to eighty-two years. The younger plantations, 

 which cover Ijy far the larger area, show that this 

 species grows ver\- rapidly, suffers very much from the 

 ravages of rabbits, and prefers fresh deep humose loam 

 soil. In a young plantation of this species near Darm- 

 stadt 9(( per cent of the specimens were peeled by rab- 

 bits, while other species mixed with it, including the 

 luiropean oaks, remained untouched. A stand forty-two 

 years old had an average height of 57 feet, an average 

 diameter of -5 inches, and contained -tti 2/3 cords of wood 

 per acre, thus showing an average annual growth of 

 more than one cord per acre. Thinnings taken from this 

 stand at the age of forty years brought $G.12 per cord. 

 ( iiic ijf the oldest and most interesting stands of red 

 oak in the state of liaden, covering about l.j acres, is 

 growing near the town of Rothenfels. It is a rather 

 open stand averaging about 105 trees per acre and is 

 now (191.")) eighty-eight years old. The trees have an 

 average height of 88 feet and an average diameter of 

 1 ; inches. 



The rapid growth of the red oak is one of its most 

 commendable attributes. German records show that it 

 has grown 8 inches in one year, is feet in ten years. 3(1 

 feet in twenty years, 54 feet in fifty years, and that after 

 the fiftieth vear the rate of height growth decreases. It 

 is alst) regarded as more attractive ornamentally than the 

 native European oaks on account of its smooth bark, 

 straight branches, broad symmetrical crown, and the 

 beautiful .autumnal coloration of its leaves. Most of the 



NATl'R.^L SKEI) REGHXERATIOX OF WHITE PIXE, TRIPPSTADT, GERMAXY 

 Early or open and incomplete stage ot regeneration. 



German foresters who have plantations or stands of it 

 commend it very highly. They think that it will play 

 an even more im[)ortant role in the future than it has in 



