NOTES ON A VISIT TO BAVARIAN AND SAXON FORESTS. 153 



acre. In 1893, when Dr Schlich visited the place, half of the oak 

 was cut out, and the mean height of the remainder was 83 feet, 

 while the wood on the ground was 4980 cubic feet per acre, 

 worth (at rod. per cubic foot) ^207. In the way of oak thinnings, 

 2940 cubic feet per acre had been sold, and had realised ;^65 

 per acre. At the time we visited it, the average production of 

 the forest per acre was 7 7 cubic feet, or, in money, 48s. per acre 

 per annum. This was an interesting example of the necessity of 

 improving the condition of the soil, and the method employed 

 had the desired effect of stimulating the crop of oak to fresh 

 growth. 



The districts of Zuber and Denkstein, lying the one above 

 the road and the other below, consist in all of 112 acres. 

 The oak is 380 years old, and stands 11 trees to the acre. 

 The beech is 200 years old, and with an average height of 

 130 feet. These woods were measured in 1888, when the 

 yield of the oak was found to be 3508 cubic feet, valued at 

 ^330 per acre, while the beech was estimated at 4312 cubic 

 feet, worth ;^72 per acre. 



On the 17th we visited the district of Heisterbestande, which 

 has been a Game Park since 1300. About 1640, during the 

 Thirty Years' War, Tilly's army camped on the ground ; and at 

 the time they removed from the forest, a heavy seed year created 

 an area of 1500 acres of oak in one lot. The ground had been 

 trampled and all vegetation destroyed by the army, and the 

 only thing left behind them was a sufficient number of oak trees 

 to seed these 1500 acres. Beech only made its appearance 

 about 100 years ago, and the want of the beech in the early 

 stages of its growth accounts for the oak being shorter in this 

 forest than in some others. Oaks of 100 years old, with beech 

 under them all the time, have reached as great a height in these 

 100 years as the others have done since they were sown. Dr 

 Schlich measured these trees in 1903, and found 96 trees to the 

 acre, with a mean height of 93 feet, and an average diameter of 

 19 inches, and containing 9540 cubic feet per acre, worth (at is. 

 per cubic foot) ;^477. The total value of the oak on these 

 1500 acres is estimated at ^715,500. 



The districts of Wolfskant, Eichhain,and Rohrbrunn were visited 

 the same day. The greater part of Wolfskant has been regen- 

 erated from beech. After a general cutting has been made, the 

 best spots for oak are selected, and 16 acres have so been dealt 



