The Rise of Silviculture. 555 



A consideration of the technique of silviculture opens more 

 questions. The assumption that the growth of the younger age- 

 classes in the partial shade of the older will continue thrifty until 

 the removal of the older trees or that there will be any growth at 

 all, is possibly warranted for good sites but not for all sites, cer- 

 tainly not for the sterile sandy soils which cover so large a part 

 of northern Germany. Pfeil who is recognized as a careful 

 observer, has concluded that the Scotch Pine does not endure 

 shading after the fifth year, that continued shading reduces its 

 vitality, and that stands which have been regenerated naturally 

 contain too little saw timber to make natural regeneration appear 

 advisable. Again it is possible in the high forest to make such 

 mixtures of species as may be desirable for soil protection on 

 poor sites. The ways to accomplish this have been pointed out 

 by Erdmann and von Schermbeek in the moist climate of the 

 West, in the East, by Frick and by many others, notably by God- 

 berssen and Dittmar. It is neither desirable nor possible to think 

 of disregarding these methods and to follow Duesberg alone. 

 The proper course to pursue is to let all practices persist side by 

 side and by careful experiment to determine what procedure leads 

 most certainly to given results on different sites, under different 

 forms of forest and with different objects in view. 



The profusion of excellent observations and admirable con- 

 clusions with which Diiesberg's book abounds contribute no less 

 strikingly and effectively to the theory and practice of forestry 

 because the hopes of an enthusiastic advocate of the selection 

 forest remain unfulfilled. The value of his work is not to be 

 measured by the extent to which the forest of Germany or of 

 north-eastern Prussia are converted into "Groups" and "Clumps." 

 His scheme is just as artificial and rests on a few happy experi- 

 ments just as much as did Gayer's "Femelschlag," Ney's "Ring- 

 femel," or Wagner's "Blendersaiimschlag." The important point 

 is that every trained forester should learn to consider well what 

 technical methods and what business procedure are best adapted 

 to the fundamental laws of nature and the economic demands of 

 the community. Once understood, these methods and procedure 

 become the ideal toward which he should move steadily but 

 slowly and without seriously disturbing the existing state of 

 affairs in the woods. Diiesberg's book is a good guide in this field 

 because it contains a detailed, incisive criticism of the purely 



