Periodical Literature. 83 



An inquiry among Hessian foresters 

 Planting showed that the majority favors the plant- 



Under ing of spruce under the cover of other 



Spruce trees, oak and larch, beech and alder being 



Cover. considered best. Pine was undesirable be- 



cause it did not do enough to subdue weed 

 growth. From one section it was reported that this procedure 

 did not lead to good results, others thought, at least in higher 

 altitudes cover could be dispensed with on account of the hu- 

 midity in such locations. It is especially necessary not to keep 

 the cover too long, particularly on poor soils, where plants re- 

 quire the most light. 



The theory of the cover is explained in that the excessive 

 stimulus of intense daylight is kept from the young plants, so 

 that their growth is not more rapid or better, but quieter, 

 steadier, surer. Under the protection of the cover the young 

 plant, which has experienced a shock in its life function by the 

 transplanting, finds time to establish itself and make new roots 

 and shoots. The dangerous infantile stage is more readily over- 

 come, the battle with grass and drouth made easier and shorter. 

 Trying winds are kept off as well as the light, and yet the fresh 

 air which suits the spruce is secured. 



On dry soils, to which spruce is at any rate not adapted, 

 planting under cover is not suitable, such planting is absolutely 

 necessary only exceptionally ; it is advantageous in all conver- 

 sions with a soil cover of undecomposed foliage and litter and 

 raw humus, in order to prevent drying out, and blowing away 

 of the foliage cover, also on sunny slopes. It may be dispensed 

 with in all protected situations, on north and east exposures, on 

 small strips and other small clearings surrounded by timber. 



Hessicher Forstverein. Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdzeitung, 1908, pp. 

 405-6. 



Upon the basis of personal inspection of 



Wagner's Wagner's results with the so-called selection 



Strip strip method, which has called forth so 



Selection much comment, Eulefeld gives a descrip- 



Method. tion of conditions under which these were 



attained. The district, Gaildorf, near 



Stuttgart in Wurtemberg, is a private property, mountainous, 



