A GERMAN METHOD OF OAK REPRO- 

 DUCTION. 



BY 



W. F. HUBBARD, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



ABOUT a hundred years ago Ger- 

 man foresters and economic writ- 

 ers began to predict a fuel famine. Coal 

 had not come into use, and the rapid 

 increase of population and the corre- 

 sponding demand for wood seemed to 

 point to an exhaustion of the fuel sup- 

 ply. From this period dates the great 

 extent of beech forest which is to be 

 found in middle and southern Germany. 

 The question of fuel has long since been 

 .solved by coal, and, as the demand for 

 beech is now less than the supply, the 

 most recent forest policy has, to a lim- 

 ited extent, advised the change to better- 

 paying species. 



In the neighborhood of Karlsruhe, 

 Baden, a very ingenious method has 

 been employed to replace the old beech 

 forest with oak, a wood for which there 

 is a heavy demand in the local market. 

 The system is here described, not be- 

 cause of its applicability to American 

 conditions, but rather to give a concrete 

 example of the high technique of scien- 

 tific forestry when the market and labor 

 conditions render it practicable. At the 

 same time it may offer suggestions to 

 the owners of woodlots in the neighbor- 

 hood of a good market. There are 

 many old open coppice forests in New 

 England which might be seeded in some 

 such manner to valuable species, possi- 

 bly oak and hickory. Let it be quite 

 clearly understood, however, that the 

 following system can act only as a very 

 general suggestion : 



The Forest Revier of Durlach lies 

 mostly in the rolling, somewhat steep 

 foothills of the Black Forest to the 

 southeast of Karlsruhe. A large part 

 of the stand is beech of the character 

 -shown in Fig. i. A regular area of 

 this forest is being annually cut and 

 put to oak in the following manner : 



In the autumn, before cutting, while 

 the trees are still standing, the ground 

 is strewn with acorns, which are worked 

 in very superficially with mattocks. 

 About 150 pounds of acorns are used 

 per acre, at a cost of $1.50 per hundred, 

 while the labor costs about $4 per acre. 

 This makes a total cost of about $6.25 

 per acre, a rather high figure for Ger- 

 many, but one justified by the high 

 prices prevailing in that region. 



After the acorns have been scattered 

 and worked in, the forest is cut clean. 

 The lumbering still further works the 

 seed into the ground and thoroughly 

 breaks up the surface of the soil, giving 

 the acorns a better chance for germina- 

 tion. In the succeeding year the ground 

 will be heavily covered \vith a germina- 

 tion of oak and birch (Fig. 2). This 

 latter species comes in of its own accord 

 and needs no encouragement and sup- 

 port. It acts as an excellent nurse, 

 growing faster than the oak and com- 

 pletely sheltering it from frost and sud- 

 den evaporation. This is found quite 

 sufficient and does away with any intri- 

 cate S3 r stem of cuttings and provision 

 for shelter \vood. The only danger to 

 the young growth at this time is that 

 of suppression by the sprouts from the 

 old stumps. Beech, however, does not 

 sprout excessively, and as the forests 

 are constantly patrolled, it is an easy 

 matter to lop off the heads of such 

 sprouts as seem dangerous. This con- 

 stant supervision by the rangers is not 

 considered a cost factor in any particu- 

 lar area of forest. They get their reg- 

 ular wages and are continually on their 

 special beat. As there is a ranger to 

 about every thousand acres in this dis- 

 trict, it is wonderful what a single man 

 can do in this capacity. 



By the time the seedlings are six years 





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