88 Forestry Quarterly. 



All we know is that these water masses are returned to the sea 

 in a very much longer time than is often believed, while the sur- 

 face waters remain only a short time in this stage of the cir- 

 culation. 



Ueber den Krcislauf des JVasscrs. Centralblatt fiir das gesammte 

 Forstwesen. November, 191 1. Pp. 534-536. 



Since trees make very little demand upon the 



Water Absorption chemical constituents of the soil, improve- 



and ment from the forester's standpoint is main- 



Tree Species. ly betterment of the physical conditions. 



Among these latter the capacity for absorbing 



water is the most important in a forest soil. Increases in this 



capacity are followed in almost every case by better tree growth. 



Moreover, a soil with great capacity for retaining moisture is of 



advantage not only to the individual growing trees, but also to 



the whole community, since it exercises a steadying influence 



upon the local climate and stream flow. 



In order to determine the degree of improvement in water 

 absorbing capacity resulting from growing different tree species 

 sample plots were taken in stands of beech, fir, spruce, oak, larch, 

 and White Pine. Using the stands of beech as the basis of com- 

 parison the soil in pure stands of the other species was found to 

 bear the following relations, expressed as percentages of the 

 water capacity of soil in stands of beech: 



Fir, 95% 



Spruce, 95% 



Oak, 84% 



Larch, 81% 



White Pine, 79% 



From these figures it is readily seen that the shade enduring species 

 exert the greatest influence upon the water capacity of the soil. 

 On the average this capacity is one-sixth greater on sites covered 

 with shade enduring species. 



Studien iiber das Bodenbesserungsverniogen unserer wichtigstcn Holz- 

 artcn. Centralblatt fiir das gesammte Forstwesen. October, 191 1. Pp. 

 447-458. 



