184 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH AKIiORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



woods under one forest officer) is in Saxony as elsewhere, where 

 scientific silviculture is practised, divided up into compartments 

 and sub-compartments. The work of laying out the State 

 woods was first seriously undertaken by Cotta. He personally 

 supervised the compartment plan of a number of forests, and 

 his influence lived long after he died. The principles he laid 

 down can be traced in the plan of every range in Saxony. 

 Nothing is easier than criticism, and the compartment plans of 

 a number of Saxon woods are rather severely censured by 

 present-day foresters. It is not so much the areas of the com- 

 partment that are taken exception to but rather their shape, 

 especially in hilly country. We find, on looking at the com- 

 partment plan of an average Erzgebirge forest, that very little 

 regard appears to have been paid to the contour lines, and we 

 see rides running for miles over hill and valley in perfectly straight 

 lines. This geometrical method of planning woods is now some- 

 what out of date so far as mountainous land is concerned, but when 

 once a forest has been laid out the alteration of the main rides 

 involves a great deal of trouble, and in cases where a road and 

 ride coincide becomes almost a practical impossibility. Modern 

 forest management teaches that too much importance should not 

 be attached to compartments being rectangular in shape, and 

 that more attention should be paid to convenience in working, 

 and the persistent endeavour to unite roads and rides without 

 unduly sacrificing the interests of either. The average com- 

 partment in Saxony varies from 50 to 75 acres which, 

 for spruce woods, may be considered rather large. The length 

 of the adjacent sides are roughly in the proportion of i : 2 or 3 

 or i:2"5 on the average, which is quite a good shape (see 

 Fig. 2). The assumption upon which nearly all the State 

 forests have been laid out is that the chief provision to be made 

 is for the safety of the woods from west and south-.west winds, 

 and for this reason we find all the main rides running from west 

 or south-west to east or north-east. The longer sides of the 

 compartments run at right angles to these directions, which 

 means that the cross or " minor " rides run from north or north- 

 west to south or south-east. The regulation width of main rides 

 is 9 metres (about 29^ ft.), and that of the cross rides 4^ 

 metres (about 14I ft.). The object of having the main rides 

 so wide is to allow of the trees on the north and south 

 sides of compartments becoming well clothed with branches 



