A VISIT TO THE THURINGIAN FOREST, 113 
germination of the natural fall of seed from the adjacent trees. 
This is plainly seen in the large number of seedlings which appear 
on the lately cleared areas and through the recently formed 
plantations, 
Next to spruce in extent of ground occupied comes the beech, 
which is found growing equally thick on a given space. Having 
inspected a piece of forest composed of this tree, the stems were 
found to be tall, straight, and clean up to 60 or 70 feet, being 
about four-fifths of their total height. Few of them exceeded 12 
to 15 inches diameter near the roots, but tapered very little, 
having grown very close together when young. The original soil 
in this wood is deeply overlain by humus, the decomposed foliage 
of many years. There was no trace of green herbage underneath, 
but in the outskirts seedlings from the mast appeared in quantity, 
showing that the seed matured well, and germinated readily. 
I looked anxiously for the larch, but was informed that it did 
not succeed in those parts. Giving great promise till about 
ten years of age, it then became diseased: its cultivation had 
therefore been discontinued. 
To sum up ina word. The outstanding points in the practice 
of forestry in the Thuringian Forest are—thick planting or 
sowing, long deferred and gentle thinnings, and regular clearing 
of mature timber, followed closely by re-afforestation. 
