76 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



US were billeted among the inhabitants, and were comfortably 

 accommodated. 



Aug". 6. We had a long and interesting day's walk in the 

 Neuessinger forest to the north of Kelheim. The woods 

 consist mainly of spruce and silver fir, with a sprinkling here 

 and there of beech and oak. The spruces and silvers in the 

 early part of our walk had received their last thinning, and 

 were maturing for the final felling. The average age was 96 

 years, and we could hardly have seen a better example of the 

 final product of the German group-system. The trees were 

 splendidly grown, over 100 feet in height, with perfectly straight 

 stems. The effect of growing in close canopy was seen, not 

 merely in the absence of branches below the crown, but in 

 the uniform growth of the poles, with a minimum of taper, 

 the girth seeming scarcely to diminish between 5 and 50 feet. 

 Some of the outer trees of the forest had very fine boles, — one 

 spruce measured being 6| feet, and a silver fir gh feet, in girth. 

 The distance between the trees of the final crop is from 4 to 5 

 yards. 



We also had an opportunity of seeing a good example of the 

 " group-system of natural regeneration," which is now very 

 generally adopted. By this system a forest can be regenerated 

 at very small expense, and sometimes without any expense at all. 

 The old trees are cut out in circles at intervals through the wood, 

 the diameter of each circle being about half the height of the 

 surrounding trees, so as to admit just the amount of light 

 required for the seedlings, while preventing the growth of weeds. 

 These cleared circles get filled with seedling plants, and as the 

 plants grow the circles are gradually enlarged, the outer rings 

 getting filled in the same way, until, in the course of 20 years, all 

 the circles meet, and the whole area is re-aflforested. 



Our morning's walk ended at a magnificent oak, under whose 

 shelter we stopped for luncheon. It is the sole survivor of an 

 ancient oak wood, and is 70 feet in height, with a girth of over 

 18 feet for a considerable distance from the ground. 



On our way back to the village, we were shown over a large 

 pulp mill employing 600 hands. This is one of the industries 

 that spring up in a district as soon as a sufficient and regular 

 supply of timber is assured. We followed the various stages of 

 manufacture from the clearing of the tree stems to the production 

 of smooth sheets of thick paper-pulp ready for the paper-maker. 



