172 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



If one considers Germany as roughly divided into three main 

 forest regions by a line from the corner of Bohemia, at Eger, 

 northward through Hannover into Liibeck on the Baltic, and 

 another line from Hannover westward to Amsterdam, the large 

 northeast block may be called the pine region, the small north- 

 west block the heath region, and the remaining southwest block 

 the hardwood-spruce-fir region. Practically all of the pine 

 region is contained within Prussia, and this explains the pre- 

 ponderating percentage of Scotch pine — 60 per cent as against 

 12 per cent of spruce and fir, 5 per cent of oak, 15 per cent 

 of beech, and 4 per cent of birch and alder — in Prussia. 



The markets for Prussian forests products are so excellent 

 as to admit of the profitable placing of all classes of timber with 

 only minor exceptions. 



During the nineteenth century the period method of regulat- 

 ing the cut (" Fachwerksmethoden," i.e., " Framework Meth- 

 ods "- — see method No. 17) predominated in Prussia. At 

 first, owing to the influence of G. L. Hartig, it was a strict 

 volume-period method (" Massenfachwerk,'' i.e., volume frame- 

 work). The official instructions of 1819 provide a detailed 

 allotment by volume and classes of material for each of the 

 six periods of the 120-year rotation. The impracticability of 

 such calculations without adequate bases soon brought a 

 change from Kartig's strict method, the more so since such 

 slow progress was being made toward the goal of having work- 

 ing plans for each forest. Therefore, in 1836, after a provisional 

 regulation of the cut had been accompHshed between 1826 and 

 1835, a new order for regulat"'ng the cut was issued which re- 

 mained in force almost to the end of the century. Though still 

 based on the volume-framework method, the calculation of 

 cut was simplified, and the equality of area was also taken into 

 consideration- together with a correct distribution of the age 

 classes and the formation of cutting series. With the intro- 

 duction of the factor of area, the volume-period method (Massen- 

 fachwerk) fell into abeyance and the combined period method 

 (Kombiniertes Fachwerk) came to be used for less regular stands, 



