340 Forestry Quarterly. 



lian Alps. The mountains while not very high (9,000 feet above 

 sea level is the maximum, some 6,000 feet the average, while the 

 valley floor varies between 2,500 and 3,000 feet elevation) are 

 very steep and abrupt with many cliffs and ravines. 



The valleys — in some of which lie beautiful lakes — are, how- 

 ever, quite accessible. Many of them are tapped by railroads 

 coming from the populous centres of Bavaria. 



In general, the climate is typical of all mountain areas. There 

 are the usual marked local variations due to differences in eleva- 

 tion — with the corresponding differences in vegetation. The gov- 

 erning characteristics of the climate as far as it concerns the 

 forest, are the heavy winds and the high precipitation : 50 inches 

 per annum. The wind is usually from the south, southwest or 

 west, and is a direct menace to the forest- The great precipita- 

 tion is beneficial in so far as the rainfall and high atmospheric 

 moisture are particularly favorable to the growth of spruce, but 

 a direct danger, also, since the heavy snowfall causes bending 

 and breaking of the trees and shortens the vegetative season, 

 especially at high elevations. Furthermore, the immense de- 

 posits of snow cause frequent avalanches in spring with their at- 

 tendant destruction of forest and ground cover. 



The forest itself is preponderatingly spruce with an almost 

 universal admixture of fir and, on the lower slopes, of beech. 

 Rarely, and then only in overmature stands, does the fir dominate 

 the spruce. Scattering larch are found ; especially young trees ; 

 for old larches are comparatively scarce. Scotch Pine occur 

 scatteringly on the lower slopes; they assume a shape strikingly 

 similar to their neighbor spruces and firs. * As subordinate 

 species occur maple, elm, ash, alder and, still more rarely, birch, 

 choke cherry, mountain ash, etc. 



The highest elevations are, of course, barren of any vegetation 

 except grass (the pastures above timber line are called "Alps") 

 and scattering, stunted Pinus cemhra — the albicaulis of Europe 

 — which our own Pinus cemhroides resembles. 



In enumerating the conditions which menace the forest, game 

 and cattle must be ranked right after wind and snow. The game 

 — i.e. the deer — are the worst offenders ; they bite off the tender 



* See Article by Forstmeister Kienitz : "Formen und Abarten der 

 gemeinen Kiefcr; Zeitschrift fur Forst und Jagdwesen. Jan., 191 1 briefed 

 in "Forestry Quarterly," Vol. IX, No. 3, p. 484. 



