THE STATE FORESTS OF SAXONY. 1 87 



you can leave the young plantations in the shelter of old 

 woods for a considerable period without any difficulty in finding 

 suitable places for the annual fellings. The formation of sub- 

 compartments is generally based upon difference in age, species, 

 or silvicultural method, in pure high forest, age being the only 

 basis, and lo years the lowest difference which may cause a 

 separate sub-compartment. It is generally recognised now that 

 the sub-division of compartments has been carried too far, and 

 that the management has become too intensive in this particular 

 respect, giving a large amount of extra work without equivalent 

 return. Although there is no limit laid down many are not much 

 larger than about half an acre, and it is not uncommon in 

 indicating sub-compartments to go down to the letter "r" in the 

 alphabet, whereas it is usually agreed that they should not, as a 

 rule, be made smaller than one acre, or an acre and a quarter. 

 Sub-compartments are only marked on the compartment maps 

 and not in the woods. This tends at times to lead to confusion 

 and might well be altered. 



Another outstanding feature of forest management in Saxony 

 is the care which is given to age-classes which are kept separate 

 for each Working Section {Beiriebsklasse). The classes run — 

 I. 1-20, II. 21-40, III. 41-60, and so on, and every endeavour 

 is made to keep them as nearly normal as possible, because the 

 more normal they become the greater is the ease in providing a 

 regular annual cut which in turn creates a more certain market, 

 especially of small local buyers who are always to be encouraged. 

 Taking the average rotation to be So years, the normal for the 

 whole of the Saxon woods is — 



I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Cleared Space. 



24 "/o 25 7o 25 "/o 2 5 '"., . .y I "/o 



while 



23 7o 21 % 25% 29% 2% 



were the actual figures for 1909, which shows a remarkable uni- 

 formity only achieved, however, after So years or so of careful 

 planning. 



( To be continued.) 



