Periodical Literature. 315 



In setting down his impressions of Hun- 



Forestry garian forestry after a four days' stop in 



in the municipal and private forests of the 



Hungary. Tatra Mountains^ northeast of Vienna, Dr. 



Martin touches upon two widely separated 



aspects of his subj ect ; technical forestry and forestry as affected by 



tariff duties. 



The forests visited were beech and oak and other broad-leaved 

 trees, which together make up 88 per cent of the wooded area of 

 Hungary. For beech, soil and climate appear to leave nothing to 

 be desired, but even favorable sites cannot remedy the apparent 

 lack of care for the stand in its youth. Little attention to seed years 

 in cutting for natural regeneration has rendered it necessary to fill 

 fail spots with conifers (spruce and larch), and as a result the young 

 thicket and pole wood stands are filled with "wolf" trees. 



The oak in pure stand occupies 27 per cent of the forest area 

 of Hungary. Frequent seed years and the mild climate and rich 

 soil lend themselves well to natural regeneration. In sharp contrast 

 to German and French practice is the rapid progress of removal 

 cuttings ; the mother stand is entirely removed in the second or third 

 year. Frost and drought are factors which do not enter, but weeds 

 come in and choke the young plants, retarding their development, 

 and causing fail spots, which are then planted at considerable cost 

 with conifers. Everything strengthened the opinion that unless 

 kept free of weeds by cultivation oak seedlings thrive better for 

 several years under partial shade, such as afforded by mother trees 

 in natural regeneration. 



Beech and oak mix well here, and what is lacking in these stands 

 is clearly due to the little care they receive in their growth. As 

 revealed in some localities in Germany, so here it is apparent that 

 oak thrives in mixture with beech the better the milder and sunnier 

 the site and the richer the soil. In higher altitudes and latitudes, 

 and on harsher sites, the oak begins to require care and attention, 

 or it gives up its place to beech. Thus, it becomes necessary to 

 grow the oaks in groups instead of in even mixture. 



Large areas in the Tatra hills are devoted to coppice forests, oak 

 being grown for tanbark. Twenty years is the usual rotation and 

 thinnings are made in the fifth and fifteenth years. These are re- 

 quired by law, though the material may not pay for its removal. 



