430 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



iDgs and one seed-felling, after -which, the area being then re- 

 stocked, pome trees are left to provide shelter against frost and 

 drought. These old trees are removed gradually, so that -when 

 the young beech reaches a height of about 5 feet, none of the 

 former are left. The young crop grows up in a dense thicket, 

 ■which gets its first thinning at abeut the thirtieth year en soils 

 of average quality. At first the thinnings are light and frequent, 

 their recurrence being every two or three years. Later, once in 

 ten years is often enough, when the timber removed at each 

 thinning may average about 700 (quarter-girth) cubic feet per 

 acre. Slopes having a north-easterly aspect are these most easy 

 to regenerate naturally; parts which fail are usually planted with 

 four-year-old transplants of spruce, but en the best soils sapliug 

 oaks are used. Hornbeam is indigenous in Miihlenbeck, and 

 being more frost-hardy than the beech, it takes the place of that 

 species in low "frost-hollows." In this reiier cecurs the veiy 

 uncommon mixture of oak and spruce. The species are arranged 

 in strips, a line of oak alternating with one (in some parts three) 

 of spruce. The usual result of such a mixture is that the spread- 

 ing, surface-lying roots of the spruce e'eprive the cak of the soil- 

 moisture which it demands; but here, the soil being damp and 

 clayey, the two species do quite well together. The conditions 

 are, however, exceptional. 



North-west from Stettin, and reaching to the bay at the mouth 

 of the Oder, is the interesting forest district of Eggesin, where 

 natural regeneration of Scots pine can probably be seen better than 

 in any other part of Germany. From an ordinarily treated crop 

 of Scots pine about ninety years old, rather more than two-thirds 

 are thinned out. This allows of the sowing of the ground 

 by the remaining trees, and gives light enough for the develop- 

 ment of the subsequent young crop. The final removal of the old 

 trees is effected within ten years from the time of the seed-felling. 

 Preparatory fellings, such as are necessary with beech regenerated 

 in this way, are not required, owing to the thin crown which the 

 pine carries. Blanks in the regeneration are filled up by bring- 

 in «■ plants with the earth attached to their roots from places in 

 the young crop whence they can be spared. While the crop 

 is in its early stages, it has a rather ragged appearance, but older 

 woods become more even. The soil upon which most of the 

 forests at Eggesin are growing is simply sand blown from the sea. 

 This overlies clay, which is found at a depth of about 3 feet. 



