NOTES ON CONTINENTAL FORESTRY. I 79 



the last twenty years. From 1883 onwards, when 34,500 acres of 

 waste land were in hand, large tracts have been bought en bloc, 

 and after the sale and exchange of parts suitable for agriculture 

 or pasture, the plantable portions fit for forming large compact 

 woodlands aggregate other 214,200 acres, of which 182,700 

 acres have now already been planted. The area annually taken 

 in hand has varied from 5840 acres (1889) to 12,200 acres (1897), 

 and has amounted to 9140 acres on the average, while the beating 

 up of blanks extended altogether to 61,100 acres, or 3060 acres 

 a year on the average, and just over one-third of the area of one 

 year's new planting. About 91,200 acres of "State acquired" 

 waste land remain in hand still to be dealt with, and this re- 

 presents over 1*40 per cent, of the total woodland area of the 

 Prussian State forests (6,498,300 acres). 



The statistical summary from which the above details are 

 taken does not give any information about the planting of these 

 wastes by the State ; but the plantations, no doubt, consist mainly 

 of Scots pine or spruce, according to the nature of the soil, like 

 the similar plantations also being made on a smaller scale by 

 private associations, such as the Society for Moorland Cultivation 

 in Schleswig-Holstein. The objects of this Society are the ameliora- 

 tion of the province by replanting waste lands and improving 

 agriculture. It can merely work on a small scale, as its funds are 

 only about ;^95o a year (of which the State, the Province, and 

 the Agricultural Chamber respectively contribute £,2^^, ;^2oo, 

 and ;!^5o); but it does very useful work in providing the assist- 

 ance of a head forester, in making advances for buying plants, 

 and in giving prizes for successful planting. Great difficulties 

 have to be contended with. The soil is poor, and often im- 

 pervious from moor-pan, while climatic conditions are unfavour- 

 able. The spruce seems specially suitable for planting, as, owing 

 to the dampness of the air, it here grows fairly well even on poor 

 sandy soil. Deep soil-preparation is necessary where there is 

 moor-pan, and beneficial where there is no pan; because, though 

 it looks loose and porous, the sand is very fine-grained, and 

 is all the better for being thoroughly broken up and aerated. 

 Hence trenching in strips, with plough or spade, is preferable 

 to pit-planting. Subsoil ploughing with a woodland plough and 

 four horses costs from 20s. to 28s. an acre, while spade-work 

 is dearer, and costs about |d. per running yard. Marshy spots 

 have of course to be drained. Where the moor-pan layer is not 



