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the plough or kept as meadow land is either high forest, or coppice, or schiffel 

 land, which is allowed to remain fallow for twelve years, between two crops of 

 corn, and during that period gets covered with a dense matting of grass and 

 bushes of broom and juniper. It is here the place to mention the system of 

 sartage, which prevails in some mountainous districts of Belgium and France, 

 particularly in the Ardeunes, the continuation to the south of the " Hohe Venn." 

 Sartage resembles the system here described, except that the coppice is worked 

 under a longer rotation (twenty-four }*ears), and that what is called open-air firing 

 is more generally employed, that is, the sods of turf are not burnt in heaps, but 

 small wood and branches are spread uniformly over the ground, and are f red 

 during calm weather, with the needful precautions against spreading of the fire. 

 The system is well described in that excellent work of Lorentz, " Cours elemen- 

 taire de culture des bois," 4th edition, 1860. p. 424. 



It is also treated in Bagneris' Elements of Sylviculture, English translation, 

 1882, p 125. Bagneris remarks, that the system is dying out in France. Zealous 

 foresters, in Germany, as well as in France, have often condemned the system of 

 combining coppice with field crops, as barbarous and indefensible. This, however, 

 is not a correct view of the case. The system has certain positive advantages as 

 far as the growth of the coppice is concerned ; moreover, in many districts it 

 admirably adapts itself to the requirements of the population. With due care 

 and with the aid of diligent sowing and planting, the coppice can under this 

 system be maintained in excellent condition. On the other hand, where it is not 

 carefully supervised, the system is wasteful and unprofitable. As a matter of 

 fact, in some districts the altered circumstances of the people may perhaps even- 

 tually lead to a gradual extinction of the system, whereas in other districts it 

 will be maintained and will continue to contribute materially to the well being 

 of the population. 



HIGH FORESTS AND FIELD CROPS. 



The raising of cereal crops between two crops of high forest, or as an 

 operation preparatory to the formation of new forests on waste lands, has been 

 practised centuries ago in different parts of Europe. On the south-western portion 

 of the mountain range which separates Bavaria from Bohemia, known as the 

 " Bayrische Wald," a peculiar system of forest culture has existed since the 

 fifteenth century. The forest which here chiefly consists of birch, is cut, a number 

 of trees being left standing for seed. During one or two years rye, millet, potatoes 

 and oats are raised on the ground, which had been fertilized bv the ashes of the 



v - 



top> and branches. The birch seeds plentifully an.i regularly, and the ground soon 

 gets covered with dense young growth, partly seedlings, partly coppice shoots. 

 Where cattle have been kept out, the young forest is large enough to be cut and 

 burnt after the lapse of twenty to forty years. Often, however, these areas, 

 which are mostly private property and are known under the name of " Birken 

 berge. Birken renter," are indiscriminately opened to cattle. 



In the large spruce forests on the mountains of upper Styria, during the first 

 part of this century, the old wasteful system still existed of making wholesale 

 clearances into which cattle were admitted immediately after cutting, no steps 

 being taken to facilitate reproduction. When gradually the rapid development 

 of the iron industry in those parts of Austria made wood (for charcoal) more 

 valuable, one of the first measures to accelerate the regeneration of these forests, 

 and thus to increase their productiveness, was to let out the clearances for culti- 

 vation, and to so\v the spruce seed with rye. The stems were used for timber or 

 charcoal, but tops, branches and trees without value were burnt. This system I 



