NOTES ON A VISIT TO BAVARIAN AND SAXON FORESTS. I 59 



of thinnings were removed three years ago, and realised ;^3o 

 per acre, and the rotation is 85 years. There is a good deal 

 of dry-rot in the stools and boles of the trees on this area, 

 and it is supposed to have been caused by the land having 

 been used for agricultural purposes before it was planted. This 

 defect does not, however, seem to appear in the second rotation. 

 In 1893 this wood was 50 years old, and contained 725 trees 

 per acre. The total volume was about 24,150 cubic feet, 

 less 10 per cent, for brush. When the wood was 31 years 

 of age, there stood on the ground 1370 trees per acre; at 

 37 years, there were iioo; at 42 years, 930; at 47 years, 830; 

 at 50 years, 720; and now at 61 years, there are 600 per acre. 

 Regeneration is by sowing in strips 18 inches in width, and 

 3i to 5 feet apart, and costs about 70s. per acre. 



Another wood visited was at an elevation of 3300 feet, and 

 the whole stock averages 1940 cubic feet in the round per acre. 

 It is allowed to exceed the average age of 85 years, and is to be 

 left to 100 years. 



The third wood in the same forest is situated on gneiss rock 

 and mica slate, poor in minerals. Until it was 60 years old 

 there was no thinning done in the wood, and now it is 106 years 

 old, and stands about 100 feet high. 



Another wood of 70 years old was visited. Eight years ago 

 over 1000 cubic feet per acre were removed from it, and it 

 is estimated that there are still 7200 cubic feet per acre standing 

 upon it. The spruce-bark is peeled from the logs, and the 

 receipts from it pay the felling, peeling, and cross-cutting. The 

 severance-cuttings are begun at 35 years old, and the wood 

 is thrown in one direction, which saves breaking, and makes 

 it much easier to remove. 



On our return from this forest we visited a pulp-mill, and saw 

 the method employed. The machinery is very primitive and 

 closely packed together, and leaves hardly enough room for the 

 employees to move round it. In this country, with our Factory 

 Acts, such a state of matters would not be tolerated. The mill 

 we visited was attended to by two or three old men, who seemed 

 to be putting through a good deal of work in their own way, and 

 apparently at a very small cost to the owners. The agricultural 

 measures adopted in these districts were very much the same as 

 those in the Spessart district. 



The next day I travelled to Tharandt, and visited the Forestry 



