SOME ASPECTS OF THE EXCURSION TO GERMANY. 167 
however, be pointed out, to show the justification for that pro- 
cedure, that the surface, or partly organic layer, is turned down 
and incorporated with the inorganic one beneath, which will thus 
assist in promoting a more vigorous growth in future years than 
would be possible if the ground were left undisturbed. Another 
advantage is also gained, in that seeding can be resorted to instead 
of planting, or smaller plants can be used than would otherwise 
be necessary on an unbroken surface. As a matter of fact, after 
the ground is harrowed, 80 per cent. is planted with one-year 
seedlings and the balance sown with seed. Scots fir is the 
principal crop, but, where the soil is suitable, oak is sown along 
with a sprinkling of Scots fir, the fir being introduced to form 
nurses for the oaks ; and when they have served that purpose, the 
former are cut out, tied up into bundles, and sold as fascines for 
protecting river banks. Before planting or seeding takes place, 
the ground is divided into rectangular blocks, each having a 
distinct number, by broad rides or roads which diverge into a 
main thoroughfare. A strip of oak mixed with birch is planted 
round the margin of each block, as a wind-break and for protection 
against fire. There are about 1000 acres laid down here annually 
under a forest crop, and the existing one, at the present moment, 
varies from one up to seventeen years of age. The trees are, on 
the whole, healthy and vigorous, but damage to some of the 
leading shoots of the Scots fir was apparent, caused probably by 
the larve of the pine shoot Yortriz moth. The bulk of such 
woods in this country would have been freely thinned ere this, 
but that operation is not likely to be instituted with those under 
review until their principal height-growth is attained, which will 
be, in the case of the older sections, in the course of probably ten 
or a dozen years, and the thinning will be prosecuted sparingly 
every five or eight years thereafter. By such means, tall clean- 
grown timber, such as was afterwards seen, is obtained. 
It may be as well, before proceeding further, to briefly sketch 
some of the methods adopted by the German foresters in raising 
and planting out their plants. 
For supplying plants for such operations as have just been 
noticed, a considerable breadth of nursery ground has been laid 
out, convenient to the scene of operations, and that was stocked 
with the various kinds of plants likely to be required. In other 
districts where planting, either after clear felling or otherwise, is 
to take place, patches of 30 or 40 yards square are cleared 
