FORESTRY QUARTERLY 



"oL. XL] June, 1913. [No. 2. 



SOME ASPECTS OF EUROPEAN FORESTRY. 



By a. B. Recknagei,, 



IIL Management of Pine in Prussia. 



The "Common Pine" as the Germans call it — Pinus silvestris — 

 he Scotch Pine as we anomalously term it, is the very backbone 

 .1 Prussian forestry. If, as is frequently asserted "the beech is 

 the mother of the woods," then it is no less true that the pine is 

 the most numerously represented in the forest family, covering 

 ^% of the forest area of northern Germany and about 60% of 

 the 6,175,000 acres of Prussian National Forests- Compare this 

 60% of pine with the percentage of other common species: 

 Spruce and fir, 12% ; Oak, 5% ; Beech, 15% ; Birch and Alder, 



4%. 



In the mountains of Prussia, the pine extends up to an ele- 

 vation of 1,500 feet; in the Carpathians it reaches 3,600 feet, and 

 in the Bavarian Alps, 6,000 feet elevation. 



In appearance and in character of its wood, this pine closely 



resembles the Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa). It is 



one of the "pitch pines" without any of the sinister significance 



which sometimes attaches to this term. Where it grows in pure 



stands on sandy soils, the resemblance to the longleaf pine of the 



South is striking ; where oak and beech enter into the composition, 



^ the forest seems like a shortleaf pine and hardwood stand in the 



Southern Appalachians ; where on the poorest soils, yes, even 



on shifting sands, it grows in irregular scraggly groups, the effect 



is that of the Jack pine in the Lake States. 



^.^ Mature stands of Scotch pine average from 14 to 18 inches in 



^ diameter at breast height, about 75 to 90 feet in total height, some 



' 200 stems to the acre, and a yield of from 50,000 to 75,000 feet 



board measure per acre. 



