8 FORESTRY 



coniferous woods had long been rendered difficult by damage 

 wrought in them by storms. Von Langen devised a scheme 

 whereby the woods were sheltered in their most critical 

 period, by means of suitable Cutting Series. 



Before the commencement of the eighteenth century 

 forests of broad-leaved trees were managed as coppice or 

 coppice with standards. But as timber of larger size came 

 more into request, the length of the rotation was extended. 

 Then came the question of regeneration, High forests being 

 generally raised, not from stool shoots, but from seed. 



Natural regeneration by seed from deciduous trees seems 

 to have been almost entirely neglected up to this time. The 

 formation of woods by means of the natural fall of seed had 

 long been practised with conifers, but was only now successfully 

 attempted with broad-leaved trees, more especially with the 

 Beech. This problem was first satisfactorily solved in Hesse 

 about the year 1730 by giving special attention to the re- 

 quirements of the young plants for shelter. In 1736 the 

 forest ordinance of Hanau-Munzenberg a decree regulating 

 the management of the forests there prescribed that special 

 attention be paid to the interests of the new rather than 

 merely to the utilisation of the old crop. The felling was 

 divided into three stages a felling for seed, a felling for 

 light, and a final felling. In 1764 an advance or preparatory 

 stage in the felling was made to precede, by a few years, 

 the cutting for the production of seed. 



Artificial regeneration of pines and firs by sowing and 

 planting became general in the sixteenth century, being 

 first practised in South Germany. In the north, at the same 

 time, the ancient custom of forming groves of Oaks by 

 planting saplings in the neighbourhood of homesteads, was 

 applied to the open forest, where also the sowing of pine 

 cones a method now rarely employed was introduced. 

 Towards the close of the seventeenth century the planting 

 of Sprvrce was tried, though with little success ; but at the 

 beginning of the next century direct sowing of Spruce seed 

 was followed by much better results, and this method 



