german forestry. i43 



Silver Fir and Spruce. 



The feature of the silver fir, as grown in Germany, is the great 

 quantity of timber which is produced per acre. In this respect 

 the spruce comes not far behind. The two trees associate very 

 well in even-aged mixture. Their rate of height-growth is fairly 

 similar; they suit the same localities, and the presence of the 

 deep-rooting silver fir in a spruce forest makes the whole more 

 storm-firm. 



Natural regeneration, under sheltering and seed-producing 

 trees, has the same advantages in the case of silver fir that it has 

 with beech. Spruce, on the other hand, is much less sensitive 

 to frost, and is usually planted — transplants of four years old 

 being generally placed about 3 J feet apart. 



Both spruce and silver fir when grown in open woods in 

 Germany are as poor and useless as anything we have in 

 Britain, but when raised in close forest these trees yield highly 

 remunerative crops. 



One forest district (that of Ullersdorf in the Riesen Gebirge), 

 where I stayed for some time, produces a sustained net annual 

 income of ;^i 1,200 from 8000 acres. This is equivalent to 28s. 

 per acre of annual profit, yet all the land is hilly, and much 

 of it ranges between 2000 and 3000 feet above sea-level. The 

 predominating tree of that district is spruce ; silver fir and Scots 

 pine also occur, but larch and hardwoods are absent. 



The beauty, too, of this and other forest regions in Germany, 

 is something to reckon with. It seems to me to be infinitely 

 finer than our bare hills and meagre woodlands at home. Our 

 naked prominences may have a rugged boldness about them, 

 but they have not the richness nor the grandeur of forest-clad 

 hills. 



Conditions in which the Forests grow. 



There are some who would attribute the success of German 

 forestry to favourable conditions of soil and climate. Those 

 who would do so are grievously mistaken. The soil is remark- 

 able for its poverty, and is, in fact, unfit for any purpose other 

 than timber-growing. The climate is characterised by severe 

 cold in winter and extreme heat in summer — often with pro- 

 longed periods of drought. The German spring is no less 

 treacherous than ours, and the middle of May is regarded with 

 dread by all the forest officers. German forests have to endure 



