154 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with. The yield of the beech in that portion was 3724 cubic feet 

 to the acre, while there were 11,172 cubic feet per acre before 

 the fall. Blanks where the trees are standing will be filled with 

 spruce. The locality is too moist for larch, and its price in the 

 district is not much better than that of spruce. The preparing of 

 the land and sowing it with oak costs 57s. per acre, owing to the 

 thick covering of young beech which has to be removed. The 

 sowing is done on the so-called "Ladder System," in rows 

 from 8 to 10 inches apart, and about 2 feet between the lines. 

 It requires 7 cwts. of seed to sow an acre broadcast, whereas 

 3^ cwts. are sufficient for the " ladder system." 



The oak in the forest of Eichhain is 103 years of age, and the 

 beech grew up along with it. The system of management was 

 to cut the tops off the beech, but that was not sufficient, and 

 most of the beech had to be removed. Before that was done, 

 however, they had left enough seed to cover the ground with 

 young beech. We saw lo acres enclosed in the forest, half of 

 which were artificially sown, and the other half naturally 

 regenerated. Twelve cwts. of seed were sown, at a cost of 

 32s. 8d. per acre. The ground is prepared for the acorns by 

 hoeing, which costs some 9s. per acre. 



In the Rohrbrunn forest there are from 100,000 to 200,000 

 trees, of which 800 are annually felled. The system of management 

 is to raise large oak of fine shape with the assistance of beech. 

 The latter outgrow the oak, and must be restricted by top-pruning 

 once or twice, though even that is hardly sufficient. Hence the 

 system of growing the oak in groups of a quarter of an acre in a 

 matrix of beech. That area has, however, been found insufficient, 

 and gradually the groups have been made larger, until now they 

 are 2^ acres, and even as large as 10 acres in extent. The way 

 of establishing these groups is that, when acorns are available, 

 the areas most suitable for oak — slopes with a southern or 

 south-eastern aspect — undergo a seed-felling, only a screen of 

 beech being left. All young growth of beech is carefully 

 removed by uprooting. Then the oak is introduced by sowing 

 acorns — sometimes by dibbling, sometimes by sowing either in 

 lines or on the " ladder system." Large quantities of seed are 

 used, occasionally as much as 7 cwts. per acre. Only acorns of 

 the sessile oak are sown, and the sowing is done in autumn. 

 At the same time, some are also sown in nurseries to provide one 

 or two-year-old seedlings to make up blanks later on. When 



