NOTES ON A VISIT TO BAVARIAN AND SAXON FORESTS. 157 



For new cultivation, Scots pine should not be left singly, but 

 in groups. 



Our next stage was Larchenbaum, a group of Scots pine and 

 larch, standing about 7500 cubic feet to the acre. We saw one 

 larch 135 feet high, containing 146 cubic feet of timber. Twenty- 

 four per cent, of the trees were over 90 years of age; 23 per 

 cent. 60 to 90; 30 per cent. 30 to 60; and 23 per cent, under 30 

 years. The final yield is about 387,000 cubic feet, and the forest 

 contains 8780 acres. The soil is very much poorer than in the 

 Spessart, and the rearing of these beautiful clean-grown trees on 

 such poor sandy soil as we saw here, was a remarkable achieve- 

 ment. No doubt it is largely accounted for by the forcing 

 climate and the abundance of moisture in the subsoil. 



On the 22nd we travelled to Schwarzenberg. During the last 

 part of the journey, the railway skirted the sides of a small stream 

 such as we often see in the Highlands of Scotland, and at short 

 intervals along this there were small manufacturing centres, 

 mostly engaged in making pulp of wood from the surrounding 

 forests. The water-power was used to a much greater extent 

 than in this country. 



On the 23rd of June we visited the Antonsthaler forest (Saxony), 

 which stands in the 51st degree of latitude, at an elevation 

 of from 1500 to 2700 feet above sea-level. The forest is 

 used for the production of spruce, and extends to 4000 acres. 

 It is very liable to damage by storms, and the cuttings are 

 made to prevent this as much as possible. A revision of the 

 working-plan is made every ten years, to determine the yield, 

 and to decide in which compartments the falls of timber shall 

 take place. In the natural course, about 50 acres are annually 

 cut, and the fellings are arranged so that the total fall does not 

 exceed 500 acres every ten years, so as to retain a normal stock. 

 The final yield varies with the age of the wood, and the 

 thinnings amount to about 30 per cent, of the final yield. The 

 felling direction is here from north-east to south-west, and ten 

 years are allowed to intervene between each two successive 

 falls in any one compartment. As soon as the timber is removed, 

 the area is planted with 3-year-old seedlings, to the number 

 of 2400 per acre (at about 4^ by 4^ feet). The blanks are 

 made up with 4-year-old seedlings, from patches sown thickly 

 in the comer of each fall about to be planted. The pine-weevil 

 {Hylobius abietis) does a great deal of harm to the young 



