THE THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL EXCURSION, AUGUST 1909. 93 



but these are poorly represented. In localities where the soil is 

 not too poor in mineral food-constituents the growth of the Scots 

 pine may be described as good to very good, and in many cases 

 excellent. The same applies to the other species when they 

 occur in suitable localities, that is, their strong, normal growth 

 and development leaves nothing to be desired. On the other 

 hand, on very poor, sandy soil which gets no water from the sub- 

 soil, the growth frequently deteriorates into scrub. On the whole, 

 with a rotation of a hundred years the annual average increment 

 in timber (down to 2*75 inches at thinner end) is estimated at 

 45 "120 to 49'35o cubic feet per acre, of which the maximum may 

 be 84'6 cubic feet and the minimum may be 9*87 cubic feet. 



High-forest is the principal form, with the exception of a few 

 small areas. Until the year 1889 there were two working-sections 

 of 80 and 96 years, the woods however in which cuttings 

 took place were as a matter of fact usually much older. Strip- 

 cutting is everywhere, with few exceptions, the rule on account of 

 the nature of the soil, and also on account of certain exceptional 

 conditions of management. The Reichs Forest has from time 

 immemorial been subject to numerous rights claimed by the 

 inhabitants within its area, such as the right to structural timber 

 and fire-wood, forest litter and grazing. The object of management 

 is therefore still the production of timber-producing coniferous 

 woods capable of supplying the demands imposed by those 

 burdens, and at the same time yielding an ever-increasing rental 

 to the State. 



IV. — Dangers to which the Forest is Exposed. 



A most far-reaching natural calamity occurred in this forest 

 during the last decade of the previous century, when the cater- 

 pillar of the Kiefernspanner {Fido?iia piniared) increased to an 

 unprecedented extent (this moth was not previously considered 

 a dangerous pest of the Scots pine). In a few years 15,394 acres 

 of the Laurenzer forest and 7561 acres of the Sebalder forest were 

 destroyed. This entailed the cutting, between 1895 ^^^ 1897, 

 of 7,392,373 cubic feet of timber ; that is, twenty times the then 

 existing annual yield of these forests. 



V. — Method of Re-Afforestation. 



After this extraordinary felling was completed, the State Forest 

 Department set about the re-afforestation of these 22,955 acres in 



