52 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



heavy snowfall) but of excellent quality. The tree seeds 

 abundantly every three years, and every year to some extent. 

 Hence it is somewhat invasive, nor does it confine itself to the 

 sandy soils, merely avoiding those that are very marshy. The 

 oak reaches 80 to 100 feet in height, with a diameter of 2|-feet at 

 chest-height, in 150 years. It thrives for several centuries. It 

 seeds partially every seven years, but heavily only very oc- 

 casionally — say once in fifty years. Its wood is of high quality, 

 and famous. In earlier days it went to the building of Dutch 

 ships. The Germans used the beech as an understage among 

 the oak and pine. The ash seeds freely, and is of unusually 

 good quality. 



The forest is well served by lines of export. There are three 

 railways running through it, and. two others along the borders. 

 There are three stations in the forest, and twelve others within 

 4 kilometres {2h miles) of the boundary. There are three main 

 roads and many lesser roads in the forest, but heavy timber can 

 only with difficulty be moved on any but metalled roads, and 

 metal can only be obtained at a distance of 60 kilometres 

 (37 miles). 



The prescriptive rights which burden the forest are not, with 

 one exception, onerous, and even the exception is of doubtful 

 legality. This is the removal of litter — about three-quarters of it 

 dead leaves, the rest being fern, heather, and moss. It was 

 estimated recently that some 1800 cartloads a year were being 

 removed, not only by neighbouring communes, but by villages 

 as much as 10 kilometres (6| miles) from the forest. The outer 

 parts of the wooded area have thus often a perfectly hard, bare 

 soil, and that this practice has been most pernicious is shown by 

 certain estimates of the soil quality made by the Germans. 

 Thus in 1874 6 % of the area was considered to be first class, 

 but only 1 % in 191 3 ; 60 % second class in 1874, against 42 % 

 in 1913 ; and 34 % third class in 1874, against 57 % in 1913. 



Formerly in a good acorn year the town of Haguenau was 

 accustomed to buy a number of pigs, and, after fattening them 

 in the forest, to sell them at a profit of several tens of thousands 

 of francs. The acorns were, in those early days, considered 

 more important than anything else, and the chief swineherd of 

 Haguenau was an important person in the town. He used to 

 appear officially, with his trumpet, at the Christmas midnight 

 mass in the church, and after the elevation of the Host he 



