56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
Germany but it is of particular interest as showing the results of 
mistaken ideas in regard to the management of white pine with 
spruce and oak, mistakes which are not being repeated in later 
plantation of white pine throughout this part of Germany. The 
yield of cones for seeds alone saves the plantation from being a 
complete failure and from having been removed long ago. 
Several compartments of the Frankfurt woods still maintain the 
stands of beech with oak and other hardwoods which. comprised 
the primeval timber of this region. The beech is about 120 years 
old and about the best, considering the large acreage devoted to it, 
to be seen anywhere in the Rhine valley. In the depressions (frost 
dells) alone are there any signs that the beech is not vigorous, and 
there the abundance of hornbeam makes up for it. Underlying 
limestone, close to the surface, probably accounts to a large extent 
for the good growth of these hardwoods upon a surface soil which 
seems unusually sterile. The German forester judges the fertility 
of the soil largely by the relative growth of wild grasses thereon, 
and in most cases that appears to be an excellent index of the quality 
of the soil. 
Not the least interesting feature of the Frankfurt forests is the 
existence here of the oldest artificially planted stand of Scotch 
pine in Germany. This stand is now a little over 200 years old and 
looks wonderfully fine. There are about 60 trees to the acre, averag- 
ing over 20 inches in diameter, and some are as thick as 36 inches, 
breast high. A single tree recently cut, contained 4100 board feet 
of lumber. In 1876 a violent wind storm took down many of the 
trees and since then the previously suppressed beech and hornbeam 
have made a vigorous growth which shows that nature without aid 
will not reproduce the Scotch pine where it is not native. Only by 
carefully opening up the crowns, as practised on the Ysenburg range, 
“can a pine regeneration be induced. A sudden and large opening 
of the crowns brings on the hardwoods again as in the primeval 
type. The old pines, as a result of the storm, all lean toward the 
northeast. The stand contains from 25,000 to 30,000 feet an acre, 
which is good considering the relatively few trees per acre and the 
large quantity which has been removed in the past according to the 
records of this department. The remaining stand will produce 
‘lumber of an exceptionally high grade. From the logs upon the 
ground it was impossible to determine their form height, but it 
certainly exceeded 200. 
From observations previously noted in connection with oak planted 
