STATE FORESTS OF PRUSSIA. 151 
shallow soil, where the action of the rain and melted snow 
on a denuded surface, might soon result in all the soil being 
washed off. 
The time of commencing thinning, and the approximate number 
of trees to be removed, are determined according to circumstances, 
but it may be laid down asa general rule that spruce woods at 
low elevations are thinned for the first time when they are about 
thirty years old, while those high up the hills are left undisturbed 
till they have reached their forty-fifth year. To Scottish foresters 
these times of commencing thinning must seem unduly delayed, 
but this is one of the points where sylviculture at home differs so 
much from that practised abroad. After thinning has once been 
started, the operation is repeated every six or eight years. 
The great majority of the spruce woods in this district are 
established by planting, the young trees employed being either 
four to five year-old transplants, or untransplanted seedlings, 
in the latter case three or four plants being put into each hole 
(“bunch-planting”). This latter system of planting is at present 
rising in favour, owing to the fact that the resulting woods 
furnish a very large quantity of thinnings, which prove useful 
in satisfying the demand for firewood. All the young trees 
are reared in temporary nurseries, which are formed wherever 
planting operations are to be carried on. The seed is sown in 
rows, and if the trees are to be transplanted in the nursery, this 
is usually done when they are two years old, after which they 
stand other two years. 
THE ACADEMY OF FORESTRY AT EBERSWALDE AND 
ITS SURROUNDING WOODS. 
2nd and 3rd August. 
The Forestry School at Eberswalde was founded in 1830, for 
the purpose of affording a thorough technical education to those 
intending to enter the State Forest service of Prussia. Prussia 
has also another Forestry School at Munden, which, however, 
was not founded till 1868. These schools are also attended by 
students qualifying for the management of private and communal 
forests, as well as by foreigners, notably Russians. 
At present there are from 50 to 60 students at Eberswalde, 
though in 1880 there were as many as 216. The decrease in the 
attendance is due to the scarcity of appointments, as a con- 
sequence of so many men having qualified during last decade. 
