NOTES FROM OAK AND BEECH FORESTS IN DENMARK.. 243 



The effect of lime is seen in the illustration (Plate XIV. ),i which 

 has the further interest that it includes the authors. The plots 

 were laid down (May 5, 1905) in the forest (Rude Skov) within 

 a wire-netting enclosure. The area was part of a beech forest 

 120 to 150 years old, and the soil had deteriorated into "mor" 

 or acid humus. The enclosure contains four plots each about 4 sq. 

 yards. Plot i' (left-back plot) had the soil dug over one spade 

 deep so that some of the mineral soil below the 2-inch coat of 

 "mor" was brought up; when seen in June 1913 it was 

 mainly covered with sheep's sorrel {lijiinex aceioseila), a sign of 

 need of lime, while the beeches were few in number and small. 

 Plot 2 (left-front) was also dug over, and received a dressing 

 of about 2| cwts. per acre of burnt limestone ; this carried much 

 the same number of beech, but larger in size, while the ground- 

 vegetation was mainly wavy hair grass. Plot 3 (right-front), 

 dressed with about 13! cwts. per acre of the same lime, carried 

 (in 191 3) a fair covering of beech varying in height up to about 

 3 feet high, but the presence of moss and winter-green in the 

 plot indicated that the acid humus was not quite eradicated. 

 Plot 4, dressed with about 68 cwts. of lime per acre, carried a 

 full covering of beech about 5 feet high. Referring to the 

 paper quoted, more details are available. The seeds sown on 

 May 5 (1905) germinated quicker on plot 4, which carried 

 (June 12) 140 seedlings as compared with under 20 on each 

 of the other plots. At the end of June there was a more 

 uniform germination, but plot 4 carried the larger plants. 

 During the growing season 1905, germination continued till 

 each plot carried several hundred seedlings, and the plots 

 without lime and with 2| cwts. were even fresher looking than 

 those with the larger amounts. The following summer, the 

 under-limed plots (i and 2) showed signs of lalling oft, until 

 in July 1908 the number of living beech in each plot was — 

 plot I, 43 p. cent.; pi. 2, 16 p. c; pi. 3, 61 p. c; pi. 4, 93 p. c. 

 During these three years larvae, green fly and fungi had been 

 at work, but the 13^ cwts. of lime plot for some reason suffered 

 worse than the others. One thing was evident that 2f cwts. of 

 lime per acre was little better than no lime, and in both plots 

 the soil had felted together again into raw humus. On the two 



^ Reproduced by permission from Studier oz'er Skov- og Hedejord, III., by 

 P. E. Miiller and Fr. Weis, 1913 ; on the left Dr Miiller in a cloak, on the 

 right Prof. Weis. Photograph taken Sept. 16, 191 1. 



