ENGLISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY S TOUR IN DENMARK. 57 



mountain pine in mixture together. The latter is only tolerated 

 so long as it has a beneficial effect upon the soil, and it is 

 removed gradually in the ** weedings " or thinnings. At the 

 margins of the plantations, as a protection against wind, the 

 American white spruce {Picea alba) has been planted in con- 

 siderable numbers, and up to the present it has grown as well 

 as the common spruce. 



One of course admires the courage of the Danes in afforesting 

 such an arid region as Palsgaard, but at the same time one 

 feels that the money might have been more advantageously 

 spent in planting land naturally adapted for the growth of 

 trees. No doubt the area, if not afforested, would be practically 

 unproductive, but it is not a menace to the district as shifting 

 sand would be, and, therefore, might have been left as it was. 

 The land belongs to the State, and about 10,000 acres of it 

 have already been planted with trees. 



Some private forests were visited by the Society. One of 

 the most interesting of these belongs to Count Friis, and is 

 situated at Boiler. Beech is the principal species in these woods, 

 and the system of natural regeneration is followed. Thinnings, 

 which would be considered severe in either Germany or France, 

 are carried out at frequent intervals. It is estimated that during 

 the course of the rotation, the quantity of timber extracted in 

 these thinnings is equal to that obtained at the final felling. 

 In some of the later thinnings, but long before regeneration is 

 contemplated, as much as 20 per cent, of the crop may be 

 removed. This system is practised very generally in Denmark, 

 both in the State forests and on private estates. It would not 

 be approved of by German and French foresters, but where the 

 conditions are such as obtain on the Boiler Estate, there is 

 much to be said in defence of it. The soil in this part of 

 Jutland being fertile, and the climate fairly humid, greater liberties 

 may be taken than where less favourable conditions prevail. 



When the woods are about eighty years old they are opened 

 out, the trees that are allowed to remain being isolated without 

 much in the way of " preparatory fellings." One hundred to 

 one hundred and twenty trees to the acre are left in order to 

 sow the ground and shelter the young crop. An expensive but 

 thorough cultivation of the land precedes the restocking. All 

 undecomposed leaf-litter is removed from the surface with rakes, 

 and the ground is then ploughed and twice harrowed. The 

 cost is said to amount to ^3 per acre, a sum which would be 



