86 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOITISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A short though somewhat steep climb brought the party to 

 Sengg, from which point an excellent view was obtained of the 

 opposite slope. The forest was again entered, and after about 

 an hour's march a halt was made for lunch. 



An inspection was afterwards made of the protection works 

 at Rischbachriesete. Some thirty years ago this part of the 

 Liitschenthal was bare of forest, and a start was made to 

 re-afforest the area by controlling the springs. It was here that 

 Dr Fankhauser first conceived the idea of erecting parallel walls 

 in the form of terraces (Plate V. fig. i). The walls were con- 

 structed by going down to the solid rock, getting a good founda- 

 tion and upon that building a drystone dyke. These walls occur 

 at intervals of lo to 12 feet, and at this point upon a slope of 

 55 % to 66 %. These operations were begun at the foot of the 

 slope and the work continued upwards. The land between the 

 walls was planted with 4-year-old spruce and 3-year-old alder 

 {Alnus incand). The species Alnus incana may be planted up to 

 elevations of 1600 metres on southern aspects; at higher eleva- 

 tions green alder {Alnus viridis) is employed. The top canopy is 

 established by those species, and they are later under-planted 

 with beech or silver fir. The total cost of this protection work 

 was ;;^44oo. 



Early in the afternoon the small village of Burglauenen, in the 

 Liitschenthal, was reached, whence train was taken for Interlaken. 

 In the evening the party proceeded by steamer along Lake Brienz 

 and, after an hour's journey, arrived in the old-world town of 

 Brienz. Next morning the Brienzer Rothorn (7715 feet) was 

 ascended by mountain railway. Unfortunately the weather had 

 broken somewhat, so that the splendid panoramic view from the 

 summit was not obtainable. The descent was made on foot, 

 during which good opportunity was given to examine all the 

 details in the extensive protection works of the Trachtbach. 

 Formerly this stream was very difficult to control, since the 

 grazing of cattle and goats had depleted the upper reaches of 

 forest.CIn 1870 the lower part of the course was built up with 

 protective masonry, but the first flood carried everything into 

 the lake of Brienz. The community in 1880 decided to afforest 

 the upper slopes of the gathering grounds of the river, and also 

 to establish protection works in the side valleys. Accordingly 

 the Forest Department drew up a plan of the work and an 

 estimate of the cost which was submitted to Government and 



