THE NEW FORESTRY. 159 



as it is called is usually deferred till the trees are from twenty- 

 five to thirty years of age, in the case of firs, or even longer, 

 and a considerably longer period is allowed for beech and 

 other broad-leaved species. Before the first thinning is 

 executed (see Plate No. i), the forest looks just in that con- 

 dition which foresters in this country would regard as utterly 

 neglected and almost irreparably damaged by crowding, but 

 which the German forester regards as perfectly satisfactory, 

 pointing to his mature forest as proof of the excellence of the 

 system. In the first thinning, only the wastrels and dead 

 trees are removed, but the dead branches on the trees left are 

 not interfered with, From this stage the growth is more 

 carefully watched, and although little or no pruning is 

 attempted, top -growth begins to assert itself sufficiently to add 

 annually a sensible layer of timber to the attenuated stems, 

 which eventually develop into tall, cylindrical trunks of good 

 girth. We measured beech trees of mature age, growing at 

 about sixteen hundred feet elevation, that had a circumference 

 of sixty-eight inches at five feet from the ground, and at 

 about ninety feet up a circumference of only about ten inches 

 less, the trunks being clear to that height. This was in the 

 Hartz Mountains, in a late and cold locality. 



The degree of density varies a little according to circum- 

 stances and the species. Professor Schlich, in his " Manual," 

 vol. ii., p. 209, speaking of the Black Forest, gives the number 

 of trees, consisting of a mixture of Scotch fir, spruce, and 

 beech, per acre, at different ages, as follows : 



Age of wood in years Number of trees to acre. 



2O 396O 



40 IOI3 



v 60 449 



80 346 



ioo 262 



We believe these figures to fairly represent the degree of 

 density in German woods generally, and if the reader will refer 

 to the plates taken from photographs in different parts of 

 Germany, for this work, he may form some idea how such 

 dense forests look compared to plantations in this country. 



