FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 191 



With these facts in mind as to the results of German forest 

 manairement, the wa}^ is perhaps prepared for a statement of 

 how they have been attained. Here we must be extremely 

 brief, i propose as that bit of German forestry which seems 

 to have most help in it for us in studying how to make the 

 most of the woods of Maine to give in outline the hiistory of 

 a stand of spruce and tir in the' l^lack Forest as it works out 

 under the guiding hand of an 01)erforster of the Baden State.* 



First of all how does it start? How do the young ^[!c'nn'of°^ * 

 trees come there? Most readers probably will think ^""^er. 

 they are planted, Imt such is not the case. The man who has 

 a big bill for nurseries and planting in his accounts is marked 

 as a poor manager, and another may be found to take his 

 place. No. It is rather by understanding the conditions 

 which seeds require to germinate and young trees to thrive 

 in, and making use of this knowledge in clearing off the old 

 crop, that the 3^oung stand is founded. Let us, however, 

 omit this for the present, and taking the young stand when 

 it first has possession of the ground, trace through its history. 



A 20-year-old stand of spruce and fir in the Black Forest 

 looks like one of our thickets that we say is as thick as the 

 hair on a dog's back. The little trees stand closely together, 

 their foliage is high up, and the limbs on the lower trunk 

 killed off. Many of them by force of competition die every 

 year and when big enough the dead ones are taken out for 

 fuel. And this dense condition is desired and promoted. 

 The unbroken cover of leaves keeps the soil moist in summer 

 so that growth is more rapid than it would otherwise be ; the 

 dense crowding cleans the lower trunk of limbs so that the 

 heart lumber of the mature tree will be nearly clear. The 

 trees on an acre of German forest are of approximately the 

 same age. Experience has shown that more lumber and 

 better lumber in the long run can be grown in that way than 

 if trees of all sizes are kept on the ground at the same time. 



♦Scientific readers must not hold me to strict accuracy here. 



