ENGLISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY'S TOUR IN DENMARK. 59 



apart, 12.5 hectolitres per hectare (14 bushels per acre) being 

 used. The Forstmeister, who is regarded as one of the foremost 

 forest experts in Denmark, is never satisfied with less than 80,000 

 young oaks per acre. In regenerating the woods, about thirty 

 trees per acre are left over from the old crop to provide shelter, 

 but nothing in the way of seed seems to be expected from these. 



The State forests of Holte, near Copenhagen, were visited. 

 As on so many estates in Denmark, the beech tree was found 

 to predominate, 4 or 5 square miles in the district being 

 covered by this species. An interesting feature of these 

 woods was the manner of establishing a beech crop under 

 birch. The birch trees are planted first, about 6 feet apart ; 

 when they are six or seven years old, beech transplants about 

 I foot high are planted underneath them. When the birch has 

 reached the age of twenty years it is removed, and thenceforth 

 one has simply a beech plantation. The birch not only protects 

 the beech from injury by frost, but also encourages the height- 

 growth of the latter. As small birch timber is marketable in 

 Copenhagen, there is the additional advantage to the planter 

 of an early return. 



Some enormous silver firs in the Copenhagen woods measure 

 fully 130 feet in height, and, carrying their great girth well up 

 the stem, contain in some cases upwards of 400 cubic feet of 

 timber per tree. In order to show the visitors the various 

 implements used in the cultivation of the soil, prior to the 

 regeneration of a beech wood, a demonstration was given with 

 the forest plough, grubber, and harrows. 



A method of planting beech in these State woods was much 

 criticised. It is what is called "block-planting," and is really 

 a kind of "bunch-planting." A number of plants — generally 

 about five, but occasionally over a dozen — are lifted from the 

 seed-beds when two years old and transferred to the planting 

 area, where they are inserted in strips that have been previously 

 cultivated. The method differs from ordinary bunch-planting 

 in that the plants are lifted with a ball of earth adhering to the 

 roots of the seedlings. This is perhaps the only justification 

 for it, because it lessens the shock of removal. In practice, 

 however, the " ball " often gets broken in transit, and there 

 remains only the disadvantage of a large number of plants 

 being huddled together. It is said in defence of this system, 

 that whereas mice would destroy single plants, they cannot 

 so easily reach those at the centre of a small group. Rodents 



