VISIT TO THE FORESTS OF BAVARIA, I 909. 77 



The amount of fir wood annually consumed by the Kelheim 

 mill is from 70,000 to 80,000 cubic metres. 



Aug. 7. After visiting the imposing National Memorial, erected 

 on a height above the village, to commemorate the battles 

 fought by the Germans against Napoleon, we proceeded to 

 inspect the forest lying to the west of Kelheim, between the rivers 

 Altmuhl and Danube. The woods we were in this day were 

 chiefly composed of broad-leaved trees, and we saw the 

 group-system of natural regeneration being carried out with oak 

 and beech, as we had seen it the previous day carried out with 

 spruce and silver firs. The older beech wood contained a 

 sprinkling of silver firs, some of which were of great size. The 

 finest specimen, 180 years of age, measured 9^ feet in circum- 

 ference, and 147 feet in height. 



The interest of the walk culminated in a mature wood of oak 

 and beech. The older beeches had already been cut out, but the 

 array of four-hundred-year-old oaks was most striking. Many of 

 them had stems over 12 feet in girth, which rose 100 feet with- 

 out a branch. The largest, known as " King's Oak," is 118 feet 

 high, with a girth of 14 feet and a clean stem of 65 feet, and is 

 valued at 3000 marks, or ^150. 



Descending a long slope to the Danube, which we crossed by a 

 ferry, we lunched in an imposing old building, partly monastery, 

 partly restaurant ; and we returned to Kelheim by river in time to 

 catch the afternoon train to Nuremberg. The Danube here has 

 a swift current, and is hemmed in between lofty precipices of lime- 

 stone rock ; and our fleet of little boats was carried down the 

 stream very rapidly and pleasantly. 



Aug. 8. Sunday was spent quietly at Nuremberg, and we 

 were all glad of the rest, as well as of the opportunity of 

 seeing one of the most interesting and picturesque cities of 

 Europe. 



Aug, 9. At Nuremberg we saw for the first time continuous 

 forests of Scots fir. Hitherto, spruce had been the prevailing 

 tree, but at Nuremberg we had reached the limit of its 

 natural habitat. East of this point, the spruce sheds its seed, 

 and the forests are usually maintained by natural regeneration. 

 West of this, every spruce has to be planted. The Scots pine 

 grows well in some parts of Bavaria, but it is not seen at its best 

 here. This is due partly to the extreme poverty and dryness of 

 the soil (the rainfall is the smallest in Bavaria, averaging only 



