Some Aspects of European Forestry. 331 



mon pine, Pinus sylvestris or Scotch pine, is found in occasional 

 mixture with the spruce and fir. It is most noteworthy that in 

 the shape of crown and bole it here strongly resembles the 

 spruce and fir, though the same species in the plains is generally 

 short-boled, has a quick taper and a bushy, branchy crown.* 

 A very few larch are also found. 



The mature spruce and fir of the Black Forest are remarkably 

 large, due, of course, to the favoring site and climate. One of 

 the tallest trees recorded, a fir, was 164 feet high- The longest 

 merchantable log, a spruce, was I37f feet long. The average 

 mature height is something like 120 feet with a diameter at 

 breast height of about 20 inches. 



The maximum recorded volume of a single tree is some 4,000 

 feet, board measure ; the maximum stand per acre about 60,000 

 feet, board measure. The average stand per acre is about 35,000 

 feet, board measure, in the spruce and fir type. 



It is extremely interesting to note that until sixty years ago 

 the Black Forest was practically inaccessible, virgin timber land. 

 Prior to 1850 the main body of the Forest was used only for pas- 

 turage of cattle, and for the burning of charcoal. 



When the Forest was placed under management the cattle 

 were, of course, excluded for at least ten years from areas in 

 process of regeneration; this together with the increasing value 

 of the cattle led to the ultimate cessation of grazing in the 

 Forest. 



Along the streams some timber had been driven out since the 

 17th century as the frequent splash dams evidence, but this made 

 no impression on the main stand. 



About 1850 the State undertook the active development of 

 these vast timber resources. Wisely they realized that the first 

 essential was roads and the foundation was laid of the truly 

 magnificent network of macadamized roads which now traverse 

 the Forest in every direction, rendering every stick of timber 

 accessible. Expensive ? Yes, enormously so ; * but good means 



* This interesting phase is discussed in Forstmeister Kienitz' article 

 "Formen und Abarten der gemeinen Kiefer" reviewed in "Forestry Quar- 

 terly," Vol. IX, No. 3, page 484-8. It is also touched on in Wagner's 

 "Grundlagen der Raumlichen Ordnung im Walde." 



* The road costs average from 50 to 60 cents per acre per annum, of 

 which the majority is for maintenance. 



