400 Forestry Quarterly 



this country within the memory of the present generation. Most 

 of Germany had experienced an era of forest devastation in many 

 ways Hke that which we have seen our country pass through, and 

 which is still going on in some parts of the United States. The 

 best timber was culled out and no attempt was made to secure the 

 reproduction of the forests. Beginning with the 12th century this 

 was followed by an era in which regulative and restrictive measures 

 were adopted in the treatment of the forest. During the 14th and 

 15th centuries the first beginnings were made to obtain new forest 

 growth. Strange to say this was by sowing or planting. The 

 beginning of the 16th century, in other words the close of the 

 middle ages, like the beginning of the 20th century in our country, 

 saw not only a strong tendency towards conservative lumbering 

 but also sporadic attempts to cut timber with an eye towards 

 securing reproduction. These were the beginnings of a silvicultural 

 policy; founded at first upon empiricism, refounded in the 19th 

 century upon science. 



Even though the middle ages cannot boast of the introduction of 

 an orderly system of silvicultural management, still we must con- 

 cede that comparatively early some very noteworthy beginnings 

 were made in this direction. The oldest system by which wood was 

 removed from the forest was the selection method; but this was 

 usually carried out without any regularity in felling. Owing to 

 the destruction caused in removing the timber by this method and 

 also unrestricted grazing, it soon became evident that reproduction 

 was greatly hindered where this system was used. This led as 

 early as the 12th and 13th centuries to a restriction in the use of 

 this method to certain localities. The ability of certain hardwoods 

 to reproduce readily by sprouts when cut led early to the applica- 

 tion of coppice methods. As early as 1346 this method was known 

 in Bavaria. In the 15th century one finds many references to the 

 use of the coppice and the coppice with standards methods. In 

 coniferous forests, the selection system was used until 1500. In 

 the Harz mountains, especially in the mining districts, the 2ase 

 with which pine seeds were disseminated by the wind led to the 

 adoption of the seed tree method. This method was applied to 

 spruce as early as 1524. 



So far as artificial reproduction is concerned, no particular 

 methods had developed before 1500. In hardwoods this method 

 was entirely lacking before that date. In conifers the sowing of 



