1 88 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and other wastes in the north of Germany, but the Prussian 

 Government have in no way relaxed their efforts to re-estabUsh 

 forests where forests once existed. The question is doubtless 

 surrounded by considerable difficulties, many of which were 

 not recognised when the discussion arose in the middle of last 

 century in regard to the afforestation of low-grade farmlands 

 and inferior pastures, or were under-estimated and not sufficiently 

 studied. 



Little by little it is discovered that similar failures in the 

 afforestation with Scots pine were observed here and there soon 

 after the Thirty Years' War, but of course no regular records 

 were kept. 



One of the most interesting problems of the present time is 

 the afforestation of the extensive waste lands in the old Polish 

 provinces. The forests which once existed in these parts were 

 devastated under the Polish regime by fire and axe ; large areas 

 were burned down to create new pastures, and timber was con- 

 sidered common property. Even the Prussian Government 

 alienated, in time of wars and scarcity, large areas of State 

 forests by sale, and finally sacrificed others, when money was 

 scarce, in order to free the remnant from rights of user. 



During the last thirty years, however, efforts were made to 

 reacquire these wastes for afforestation, and some 100,000 acres 

 were bought in West Prussia alone. The soil is chiefly a 

 somewhat poor, fine sand. Up to 1906 nearly 40,000 acres 

 had been cultivated, partly by sowing, partly by planting, but 

 unfortunately almost entirely with pure Scots pine. A large 

 number of young plants were dug up in various localities, 

 with the whole root system, and placed before the Forest 

 Conference at Dantzig in 1906, in order to show the influence 

 of the various methods of culture. 



The root development was, in every instance, confined to the 

 surface soil, and was therefore an abnormal one for Scots pine. 

 A root disease was not observed, and any shortcoming was 

 ascribed to severe competition amongst the wide-spreading 

 side-roots. A serious opening out of a thirty years old afforesta- 

 tion with Scots pine on old farmlands was, however, noticed in 

 the same vicinity, a sure sign that some serious disease must 

 have established itself; though its existence was not recognised 

 at the time. 



The afforestation of dunes forms another important part of 



