1 62 Forestry Quarterly 



Comparison of rates of growth reveals the unexpected result, 

 that the removal of litter had little, if any influence, but the 

 thinning influenced the production very visibly. This fact that 

 removal of litter does not produce proportional loss of increment, 

 had been before stated by Ramanu, the stirring of the soil in 

 raking perhaps compensating for the loss in mulch or humus. 



Interesting, too, is the observation that the more frequently 

 raked areas produced less moss cover, and in the unraked areas 

 the moss development was the most prolific. In these the leaf 

 litter, falling on the moss, is more rapidly rotted : ' ' the moss 

 eats the litter." The moss, like any other living vegetation, 

 withdraws water from the soil, the more the better it is de- 

 veloped, hence the annual raking which prevents the establish- 

 ment of a dense moss cover was a benefit. 



Die Streuversuche itn Grossen Fohrenwalde. Centralblatt fiir das 

 gesammte Forstwesen. April, 1906, pp. 145-165. 



The changes in the composition of the 

 Moss-cover moss-cover in the experimental areas re- 



and ferred to in the previous brief were made 



Soil Treatment the subject of a special investigation by 

 Dr. Zederbauer. These show the influ- 

 ence of light and humidity as well as of the mechanical disturbance 

 of the moss-cover. The different structure and biological 

 behavior of the different species, influencing their transpiration, 

 account for the different moss societies found under different 

 conditions. 



Foresters distinguish among the true mosses, musci, several 

 groups, only partly corresponding to systematic classification, 

 based upon ecological and biological characteristics. The 

 ' ' branch mosses ' ' lie loosely on the ground and are much- 

 branched, besides some Hepaticae, the Hypmim family and 

 their relatives Hylocomiiun, Thuidhun and almost the entire 

 series of Pleurocarpi belong here. As " cling- mosses" are 

 designated those which with their rhizoids are closely imbedded in 

 the soil. Most of the Acrocarpi belong here, with the best known 

 genera Dicranum and Polytrichum, Mnium, and Tortella. A 

 third group is formed by the " peat, or white mosses," mainly 

 Sphagmirn and Lycobryiim. 



A survey of the moss-cover in the different experimental areas 



