IMPRESSIONS OF FORESTRY IN THE SCHWARZWALD. 1 63 



and pine. The cultivation of oak, however, is never attempted 

 without the help of beech. 



In every range in the Black Forest there is a proportion of 

 " selection " woods, but the largest proportion of them are 

 worked on the Shelter-Wood Compartment System, or in 

 some cases on a modification of this, namely, the Shelter- 

 Wood Strip System. 



The greater part of the Sulzburg range (chiefly silver 

 fir with a little beech and a very little spruce) is worked 

 on the shelter-wood compartment system. This method is 

 so well known that it is not necessary to describe it in detail 

 here. 



In this range, as in most others, there are forests belonging to 

 communes and forests belonging to the State. All these are 

 placed under one Oberforster, who controls the working of the 

 whole. A share of his salary is paid by the communes, who 

 have, however, the right, under certain restrictions, of prescribing 

 the details of the working-plans for their forests. 



As has been already stated, under normal conditions Nature 

 does the restocking, but where windfall occurs, or where there 

 are blanks from other causes, the ground is artificially planted 

 up without loss of time. As a matter of fact, " repair plantings " 

 or " cultures " are, under good management, constantly going on. 

 Formerly planting was not so much resorted to, but with the 

 value of forest produce constantly rising, and with increasing 

 facilities for transport in the shape of new roads in the forest, the 

 system is really becoming more and more intense, and if Nature 

 is not, for some reason, likely to perform the work sufficiently 

 well and in time, planting is resorted to without hesitation. In 

 some cases nurseries are formed on the spot, but as the ground 

 to be planted is usually scattered in small patches over huge 

 areas, it is a common practice for an Oberforster to purchase 

 his planting stock direct from nurserymen. 



The cost of labour, and consequently the cost of planting, is 

 high, but as the planting has to be done only on a very small 

 percentage of the whole area, this is of less consequence, and the 

 forest manager can afford to make a judicious outlay in this 

 respect. In the Sulzburg range the species most commonly 

 used for " repair " plantings are common spruce, Sitka spruce, 

 Douglas fir and white pine {Piiius strobus) ; occasionally larch 

 and Scots pine are used. Very dense planting is not resorted 



