THE STATE FORESTS OF SAXONY. 39 



the tree which will give permanently the greatest financial yield, 

 that is the tree which will give the highest soil expectation value. 

 This principle of economic silviculture we see being carried out 

 all over Saxony, and especially in the Saxon State forests, where 

 practically all (96-4 %) the woods are stocked with conifers, 

 and only y6 % remain under hardwoods (2-1 % beech, o*8 % 

 oak, 07 % ash, alder, birch, and hornbeam). 



Besides the economic reasons for the large preponderance of 

 spruce over any other tree, there are, of course, the purely 

 silvicultural reasons, which are, in short, the suitability of this 

 species for the climate and soil of a large part of the Erzgebirge 

 district — the most densely wooded part of Saxony. But little 

 attention is now given to the question of hardwoods versus 

 conifers, the latter being so obviously the more profitable in 

 almost every case. The question of spruce versus other conifers, 

 especially Scots pine, is not, however, so readily settled, and 

 there exists at present a considerable divergence of opinion 

 among prominent foresters in Saxony as to how far the cultiva- 

 tion of spruce should be allowed to replace that of pine. A 

 distinct pine region and a distinct spruce region exist, in which 

 there is no room for doubt as to which is the correct species. 

 Between these two areas is a large extent of forest land upon 

 which both spruce and pine will grow fairly well, and it is here 

 that the difficulty arises in deciding which of the two is to be 

 planted when an area has been cut. Practically speaking, 

 everywhere where spruce is cut spruce is planted, and besides 

 that a large extent of land formerly under pine has been con- 

 verted into spruce wood, according to the government policy of 

 favouring the species which gives the greatest financial return. 

 Not in every case, however, has the conversion been a success 

 with regard either to finance or silviculture, and now some 

 reaction of opinion has set in against it, owing to the very 

 poor results that have often enough been consequent on the 

 introduction of pure spruce on dry sterile soil quite unsuited to 

 meet its requirements. Those who still favour extending the 

 spruce area almost regardless of the soil and climatic conditions, 

 base their arguments upon "facts" which are briefly — (i) the 

 price of the smaller sizes of spruce is considerably higher than 

 the same sizes of Scots pine, and it can be never hoped to grow 

 anything but comparatively small trees on such land ; (2) 

 spruce will produce more wood per acre, and yields a greater 



