248 Forestry Quarterly 



The old oaks of the Spessart mountains 



Spessart (belonging to Bavaria), 400-year-old giants, 



Oaks are noted for the remarkable price they 



bring, $2 to $2,50, and sometimes over $3 



per cubic foot. These fine, large-sized bolts are used for veneer 



cutting, while sawlogs bring $1 to $1.30. 



These giant oaks, 140 feet in height and up to five feet in 

 diameter stand in beech forests 120 to 150 years old, of not less 

 imposing size, and in extensive stands. The type of forest form- 

 ing a contiguous stand is found in three revirs of nearly 30,000 

 acres, of which 83 per cent is pure broadleaf forest, some 1,800 

 acres of 260- to 300-year stands of ideal condition. 



The very old trees are, of course, remnants of the virgin woods, 

 which have been exploited in selection system since the middle of 

 the eighteenth century. By this system the tendency was to 

 crowd out the oak, changing into pure beech forest. 



Only in the middle of the nineteenth century a beginning was 

 made to find a silvicultural method which on suitable location, 

 southeast and south exposures, would guarantee oak reproduction. 

 Since experience had shown that in single specimens oak was 

 outgrown by the beech, groupwise mixture (by natural regenera- 

 tion or sowing) was introduced, requiring diligent protection by 

 thinnings to keep the oaks protected. Now, in the compartment 

 system, a very open position is given, especially in oak seed 

 years, to maintain the regeneration, helping on by seeding and 

 holding back the beech by cutting, keeping it as soilcover and 

 nurse where needed. The old stand is then removed in six years. 

 If beech regeneration is absent the oak polewoods are under- 

 planted at 50 to 60 years. The rotation for oak is set at 300 

 years, for beech 120 years. Conifers are used only with beech 

 on poorer soils ; possibly pine is introduced here and there to re- 

 duce frost danger, which is apt to occur in the valleys. 



One difficulty with which the administration is hampered on 

 some of the areas are rights of user to firewood, which prevent 

 thinnings before the 60th year, and in others the right to litter. 



Exkursion in die Waldungen des Spessart. Schweizerische Zeitschrift 

 fur Forstwesen, January-February, 1915, pp. 9-13. 



