77 



piece of forest is cleared which had attained maturity, and thus to produce larger 

 timber than the ordinary rotation would yield. This method is of old standing. 

 In a portion of compartment Laubchesbusch (4) of the " Oberwald," there is a 

 beech' forest dating from about 1808, with a number of Scotch trees at that time 

 60 years okl, which were allowed to remain standing when the original forest was 

 cleared. The result, vigorous and well grown Scotch pine, 60 years older than 

 the beech forest which surrounds them, proves the excellency of the arrangement. 

 The old Scotch pine tre^s standing over the young growth of oak in Kaisertanne 

 (2a) have already been mentioned. In this case the expediency of the measure is 

 somewhat doubtful, the Scotch pine being rather aged (140 years), and, as a 

 matter of fact, a portion of these old trees have already become dry, and had to be 

 removed. In compartment Scheerwald (7) (Oberwald), which is under renewal at 

 present, and where the last clearance is expected to be made in 1 890, after a period of 

 regeneration of about fifteen years, it is intended to hold over fifty to one hundred 

 stems (oak and Scotch pine) per hect., the young growth consisting of oak and 

 beech, with groups of silver fir and maple, planted chiefly where stumps have 

 been rooted up. 



In the regeneration of these forests, night frosts are one of the chief difficulties 

 and it may here be mentioned that this is felt throughout the tract with compara- 

 tively dry climate, which extends from the foot of the Taunus range to the Rhine. 

 In the Rhine valley, near Darmstadt, I am told that there is hardly a month in 

 spring and summer when night frosts do not occur, and it is not impossible that 

 there is a connection between the frequency of night frosts and a comparatively 

 dry climate. This circumstance has, to some extent, influenced the treatment of 

 these forests. Species which are readily damaged by frost, such as the beech and 

 silver fir, can here only be raised under cover, and even the oak greatly profits 

 while young by a certain amount of shelter. The combination of field crops with 

 sylviculture, the system of partial clearances with underwood, and the method of 

 allowing older trees to stand among the young forest, all these measures have a 

 special value in this district, where a young forest growth is so much exposed to 

 damage by night frosts. 



Great stress is justly laid in this forest district upon the early cutting out of 

 brushwood, of soft and inferior woods, and of woods which have served their 

 object in acting as nurses to the more valuable kinds. A considerable amount of 

 pruning also is done, always with the saw. Thinnings are commenced early, and 

 under ordinary circumstances, are repeated once in ten years. The peculiar 

 treatment of these forests, which results in mixed forests, consisting of different 

 species, necessitates much attention to these operations, whereby the development 

 of the more valuable kinds is generally promoted. Fortunately, the vicinity of 

 the town makes it possible, as a rule, to sell nearly all the small wool which is 

 the result of these operations. At times, however, the market gets overstocked, and 

 these operations have then to be delayed. 



PROVISIONS OF THE BADEN FOREST LAW ON THE SUBJECT OF PASTURE. 



32. In high forests, pasture is only admissable where the young growth has 

 attained the age of thirty-five years in deciduous, and of thirty years in coniferous 

 forests. 



In coppice woods, pasture is not permitted unless the young growth in hard 

 wood is twenty-five, and in soft wood, twelve years old. Where the forest is 

 mixed, the age of the dominating kind, and in cases of doubt, tne age of the hard 

 wood, decides the point. 



