CONTINENTAL NOTES — GERMANY. I 95 



scientists and gentlemen interested in forest work and progress 

 visited the sessions, the attendance reached between sixty and 

 eighty members. 



During the excursions, which, in a true forester's spirit, were 

 fully attended in spite of most miserable weather, practical results 

 were shown of experiments with various manures. The experi- 

 ments cover a considerable area, they have been carried on for 

 a long period and exhibit unquestionable successes. Careful 

 records have been kept of all experiments. The visitors had also, 

 an opportunity of seeing and judging for themselves the influence 

 which the origin of seed exercises on the characteristics of a 

 species. Numerous experimental areas in spruce forests were 

 exhibited, and finally, as a bo7ine bouche, a splendid mixed forest 

 of beech, maple and ash, treated on the selection principle. 



The famous beech Foret de Sotgnes, near Brussels, was also 

 inspected, and the areas devoted to increment experiments were 

 duly admired. The age of the trees on this area is 148 years, 

 the mean height 125 feet, and the annual increment is nearly 215 

 cubic feet per acre. A curious fact about the forest is that, in spite 

 of the favourable conditions which can produce a forest of such 

 an eminent character, all efforts to secure natural reproduction 

 have been singularly ineffective. 



The advisability of establishing an International Review, by 

 the forest research establishments of the numerous States who are 

 members of the convention, was fully recognised, but though the 

 money required for such a highly desirable publication has been 

 practically guaranteed, the personal question presents difficulties 

 which are as yet far from settlement. 



The chief items of discussion were : — The advantages of mixed 

 forests ; the transformation of pure spruce forests into mixed 

 forests ; the influences of forests on the water level in the soil ; 

 the absorption of nitrogen from the air by forest trees ; the 

 minimum of nutriment in the soil required by forest trees; the 

 utility of artificial manuring in the establishment and maintenance 

 of forest growth ; and the influence of the origin of seed on the 

 character and development of forest trees. 



The German Forest Administration especially takes a very 

 serious interest in the last question, which is more or less shared 

 by those of other countries, and it is therefore but right to notice 

 prominently the excellent work done in respect of this interesting 

 and important problem in connection with Finns sylvestris. 



