2 20 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOITISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



over by horse ploughs, about 35 cm. deep, and finally, 

 extensive 3- to 4-year-old pine afforestations on lands on 

 which the heather had in the first instance been burned and 

 peeled off. In this condition the soil had remained for a year 

 and was then ploughed up to the depth of some 20 cm. All 

 these areas were sown. It is probably too early to judge the 

 various methods by present results ; but, so far, the steam-plough 

 culture is the least satisfactory, and that cultivated by the last- 

 named method the best. The cos of the three different opera- 

 tions was 80s., 48s., and 38s. per hectare respectively. These 

 soils Dr Albert ascertained by analysis to be of very uniform 

 character throughout, both in regard to their physical con- 

 struction and chemical components ; they were for heather soil 

 comparatively rich in lime. The humus conditions were 

 analysed by Knop's method, by which only the already active 

 part of the organic matter in the soil is ascertained. They were 

 most satisfactory, and showed as much as 5 to 7 % of humus 

 in the surface layers in all areas but those on which the steam 

 plough had been at work. Here the humus averaged only 

 2-35 "/o- Pine afforestation of the Miinster land should present 

 little difficulty in comparison with those of Eastern Prussia, 

 where centuries of mishandling the soils have even been more 

 effective than the steam-plough at Miinster in removing the 

 humus from the growing surface. The deep breaking-up and 

 turning of the soil with the steam-plough has, besides the evils 

 already mentioned, also destroyed the capillary activity of the 

 soil, and the moisture lost by evaporation cannot be replaced 

 by water, which may be contained in the lower strata. The 

 principle of having the soil in a loose condition at the surface 

 and closely packed below must be the leading guide for all 

 heather soils, which mostly contain a considerable proportion of 

 sand. No working up of the soils is very much preferable to a 

 faulty one. 



Albert considers that the spade and the hoe are the ideal tools 

 for heather land cultivation and that they have, so far, not been 

 replaced by any plough invented. 



In other localities, especially where a cover of dry humus 

 overlaid the soil, the Geist-Kaehler grubber, already described in 

 previous issues, has done excellently well as compared with the 

 hoe. It mixes the dry peat and other organic matters thoroughly 

 with the surface soil, without, like the plough, covering it up. 



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