548 Forestry Quarterly. 



Hches Centralblatt" for 1901, page 225. His problem was to 

 change the run-down and moribund pure stands of pine on the 

 heaths of Holland into profitable forest. He first set about to 

 discover the reason for the failure. He diagnosed the trouble 

 as soil sickness, due as Ramann and others have shown, to caking 

 and souring of the sandy soil and insufficient aeration ; these all 

 due in turn to the presence of pure pine stands or of the exposure 

 of the bare soil. Restoring the healthy, flocculated condition to 

 the soil is the complete remedy. His work is noteworthy, even 

 though it neither has led nor can lead to hard and fast formulas. 

 He specifically points out the danger of cure-alls ; each case re- 

 quires individual attention. The only broad rules he suggests 

 are : beware of pure stands ; avoid clear-cutting large areas ; and 

 when planting in heath soils never cultivate deeply. Even on sites 

 where only pine can be planted and expected to thrive, he plants 

 broadleaf species until the soil is improved. Moreover, according 

 to circumstances he sows or plants or regenerates naturally, uses 

 clear cutting or some shelterwood system, sometimes devotes the 

 soil to farm crops for a few years ; he cultivates the soil in 

 various ways, provides a soil cover by some crop, or indeed may 

 even apply fertiUzers. 



Forstmeister Erdmann in Newbruchhausen has also developed 

 a solution under similar circumstances for a local and closely 

 related problem. His practices are the result of clearsighted and 

 diligent studies analyzing the factors of silviculture into their 

 ultimate components. The thorough study of the intimate and 

 changing relations between soil and stand has led Erdmann to 

 novel results regarding the action of stands of forest trees upon 

 heath soils. The salient features of his practices are a strong 

 preference for mixed instead of pure stands, steady regard for 

 the economic influences of silviculture, avoidance of clear cutting, 

 and finally partial reproduction under high forest and under- 

 planting with relatively short rotation. 



The writings of Godberssen, Dittmar, and Diiesberg deal with 

 the plains of northeastern Germany where the pine prevails. 

 They also wisely lay no claims to universal validity. All three 

 are experienced, ithoughtful and earnest practitioners, each giving 

 independently the theories he has formulated from wide ex- 

 perience and careful reflection. 



Godberssen's book, "Die Kiefer," published in 1904 pretends 



