402 



and authority. Through the good offices of Professor von Lorenz 

 of Vienna, the "forest-master" kindly furnished me with a guide 

 for the two excursions I made into the forests. 



So far as one is able to judge from the railways, the forests of 

 the great plain of Hanover and Prussia are chiefly made up of the 

 Scotch pine (Pinus syluestns). Turning south from Berlin to 

 Dresden the same tree predominates until Dresden is reached. 

 But thence to Prague and Vienna, the spruce {Picea excelsa) and 

 the silver fir {Abies peclinata) begin to prevail, and here at Ischl 

 the Scotch pine plays but an unimportant part. The two trees of 

 greatest importance are the common spruce and silver fir ; then 

 comes the larch, whose timber is more valued than that of either. 

 No species of broad-leaved tree is of much importance in these 

 mountain forests with the exception of the beech, of which some 

 fine areas exist at the lower elevations. The Emperor has hunting 

 rights, and some of the inhabitants of Ischl have certain heritable 

 privileges in regard to cutting timber for their own use. With 

 these exceptions the forests are entirely utilised and preserved for 

 purposes of State revenue. 



The forests are all natural, and they are replenished almost 

 wholly by natural means. The timber is appropriated sometimes 

 piecemeal, but sometimes whole sections are cleared at ones. The 

 ordinary forest is dense enough to prevent the growth of young 

 seedling trees, and therefore very few of sizes intermediate between 

 the big timber trees and tiny seedlings are to be seen. When a 

 section is tit for cutting, trees are felled to admit sufficient air and 

 light for the natural young forest growth to establish itself, which 

 is always there waiting for its opportunity. But the section is not 

 entirely cleared of old trees until this young forest growth is at 

 least 3 ft. high. When a section is cleared entirely it is planted 

 up again in the ordinary way, and the useful plan is adopted of 

 establishing a small nursery of sufficient young trees for the 

 purpose in proximity to the clearing. 



man *~ " 



Lney are regarded as natural reservoirs of timber from which the 



natural increment. The 



age ot the trees fit to be cut varies according to the fertility of the 

 ground and the elevation at which they grow, but I was told that 

 the finer trees are 200 years old. Some such trees (silver firs) 

 I measured were 130 ft. long and 10 ft. in girth. The timber 

 most valued is the larch, which grows on the higher elevations ; 

 after that comes the spruce, and, thirdly, the silver fir. All three 

 are genuine natives of the district. Besides supplying the local 

 demand for fuel and building these timbers are largely exported 



mountain sides, quite inaccessible to ordinary means of traffic. 

 Ihe transference of the timber from the high elevations to the 

 valleys is effected by means of « timber-slides." A timber-slide 

 «LL1 * wough, one metre wide, extending in two or three 

 wW ?*i T ? depot . on the hei S hts to mother in the valley, 

 ! r VJ ,-\ 6r T be put on bullock wa gons and thence on 



to end nJltu ?™ f° rm £ d ° f Wh0le trunks o* 8il ™ r fir laid **d 

 to end, usually singly. But in places where the « slide " takes a 



