110 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



For the old crops who shall answer 1 But I know very well how 

 the young ones were created. Some of these are faultless, and 

 I have never seen better, unless, perhaps, on the banks of the 

 Adour. When Alsace was still French, all the forests within 

 three miles of the Rhine were subject to the supply of brushwood 

 for fascines, etc., for embankment works. Consequently, the 

 Forest Administration claimed little concern with them, and 

 they were made over to the Ponts et Chaussees. The engineers 

 located the coupes, which were cut by contractors, without the 

 remotest respect for anything. But fortunately there were a few 

 old forest guards who got work there. These men could not bear 

 to see all their instincts and traditions so ill done by, and of their 

 own responsibility they persuaded the workmen to leave the oaks 

 and elms which were found in the thicket. As the fascine-cutting 

 came round every five years, the proceeding was tantamount to an 

 excellent cultural operation, and produced the crops that I so 

 much admired." 



The hint was enough for M. de Grandprey. Being appointed 

 to Haguenau, he got hold of the fascine forests there, submitted 

 them to a rotation of five to eight years, and thus continued the 

 good work begun by those grand old guards. Where oak seed- 

 lings were wanting, he sowed broadcast, and success was assured. 



Returning to our forest of beech and pedunculate oak, the 

 development of the sapling of the latter amongst the suckers 

 and coppice shoots of all sorts has to be followed with care. 

 Thinnings are indispensable among the fast-growing wood. It 

 is now a case of isolating the species with a light cover, such as 

 birch, ash, aspen, bird-cherry, even alder; with their high shelter 

 they will protect the young oaks froui the spring frosts, while the 

 species like elm and lime, that would suppress the oaks, have to 

 be cut down. Thus, frequent repetitions of light thinnings will 

 bring up the young oaks as they should go. Thereafter, thin- 

 nings at ten or twelve years' interval will be necessary to liberally 

 free the crown. But in soils where the auxiliary species attain a 

 height of 70 and 100 feet, the mere freeing of the crowns will 

 not suffice to give to the oaks all the space they exact. This fine 

 tree loves to develop in girth, and this can only be effected by 

 assuring it ample liberty on all sides. As soon as the oaks have 

 iO to 50 feet of bole, the best attention should be given towards 

 isolating the crowns of the choicest trees, and maintaining them 

 in this state by successive thinnings. The neighbouring crowns, 



