16 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Scotland. It was a real calamity, for much of the timber, I 

 understand, could not readily be sold. Well, in order to guard 

 against such misfortunes precautions are taken. You know, when 

 of a densely stocked wood, with a stand of say ten to twelve 

 thousand cubic feet to the acre, a portion is cut down, if the side 

 where it has been cut is exposed to the wind, it is blown down at 

 once. In Saxony the cuttings are arranged so as always to go 

 against the prevailing wind direction, so that no part of the wood 

 fresh cut may be exposed to the wind. The prevailing wind 

 direction in that part of Germany is from the south-west, and 

 hence the cuttings in mature woods proceed in the opposite 

 direction, except where the direction of the valleys and the 

 general configuration of the country modifies the direction of the 

 winds. True, occasionally, particularly in wintei", storms come 

 from the opposite direction. Such calamities do great damage, 

 and against such no protection is possible. 



These clearances are not massed together, but they are evenly 

 distributed over the entire range. Nor are clearances made con- 

 tinuous in successive years. Not until the young wood on a 

 clearance is several years old, is a fresh clearance made alongside 

 of it. This is another necessary precaution under the system of 

 clearing and planting. Though Saxony is a densely populated 

 country, nevertheless wood and coal are so abundant that it does 

 not pay to dig out the stumps and roots of the spruce, for they 

 could only be utilised as fuel. They remain in the ground, and 

 in them the pine weevil, Hylobius abietis, breeds, which would 

 destroy the young plantation, if a fresh area were cleared and 

 planted, before stools and roots in the area adjoining had decayed. 

 The Saxon forester therefore waits a number of years, so that 

 there is always between two young adjoining woods a difference 

 in age of from three to five years. 



I regret that on the present occasion I cannot go further into 

 the details of the management of these Saxon woods. The pre- 

 vailing rotation is eighty years, which means, that the trees as a 

 rule are not allowed to grow older than eighty years. In the 

 State forests of Saxony a valuation of the land and of the crop 

 growing on it is made every ten years, so as to take account of 

 the financial result of forest operations. Every year, as you 

 know, a tree grows in height and increases in girth, and therefore 

 every year a certain amount of wood is produced in the forest. 

 The question is what percentage does the money value of that 



