VISIT TO THE FORESTS OF BAVARIA, I909. 75 



of which was a wood formed in the above manner 15 years ago, 

 and on the other side a wood of pure spruce planted out in the 

 same year. The planted spruce were twice, and frequently three 

 times, the height of the trees on the opposite side of the way. 

 Hitherto, when planting spruce, the young trees have been put 

 in at a uniform distance of one metre apart, but this is now con- 

 sidered too little, and in future the trees will be planted at 

 distances varying from 1-3 m. to 1-5 m. according to circum- 

 stances. Once planted, the trees are left to themselves till they 

 have reached a considerable height. It is only under ex- 

 ceptional circumstances that they are thinned before they attain 

 30 years of age. 



The spruce is by far the commonest tree in the Bavarian 

 forests, and is called by German foresters "the bread winner," 

 being grown more easily than any other tree, and serving a 

 greater variety of purposes. The Germans use spruce timber 

 for many purposes for which larch and other tougher timber is 

 considered necessary in our country. 



Aug. 5. Our morning was spent at the Royal Experimental 

 Forest-garden of Grafrath, 20 miles west of Munich. The 

 garden was laid out in 1884, and covers about 140 acres 

 of ground ; its object is to study the characteristics of 

 indigenous trees, and to discover which exotic trees might 

 usefully be added to the Bavarian forests. A network of 

 footpaths traverses the garden, giving ample opportunity for 

 studying the silvicultural experiments. 



One thing strikingly illustrated in the garden is the different 

 rate of growth of the two varieties of Douglas fir. Groups of 

 these two varieties standing side by side in the same soil show 

 that the Oregon (light green) variety grows twice as fast as 

 that from Colorado. 



Another interesting fact is the failure of the Japanese larch 

 to maintain its lead over the native species. Japanese and native 

 larch were planted close together in the garden 21 years ago. 

 At first the Japanese larch shot far ahead of the other ; but after 

 a while the native larch caught up the Japanese, and now 

 exceeds it in height. 



Returning to Munich, we took train to Kelheim, an old-world 

 village on the bank of the Danube, entered by arched gateways 

 surmounted by tile-roofed towers. As the two inns of the place 

 could only provide room for a portion of our large party, most of 



