SOME NOTES ON GERMAN FORESTRY 



BY WARREN H. MILLER, M. F. 



EDITOR OF FIELD & STREAM. 



IN il,r slimmer of 1911 it was my privilege to review on a large scale 

 forestry studies undertaken twenty years ago in Saxony, and also to 

 compare in a general way the practical forestry of Germany with that of 

 :,,,-. to whirl. I recently devoted the better part of two year's study. Start- 

 in- with tin- countless kiefer or Sylvester pine forests of North Germany, con- 

 tinuing through the mountain fir and spruce forests of Thuringia and Saxony, 

 and ending with the oak and beech forests on the clayey soils of Rheinland 

 ami \Ve.-t phalia, I saw over two hundred German forests, many by rail and 

 n.,t a f-w l.y leisurely inspection, on foot. For the trained forester, such a 

 trip \va> of tin- keenest delight, and crowded with helpful hints and practical 

 kinks adaptable to our own practice; and a brief description of the more 

 ii-nt points which came under my observation may be of interest to the 

 fraternity of foresters here in America. 



Without exception these German forests were all under full management 

 aii-1 yielding p;i.ving dividends that enabled them to hold their own against 

 MI i rounding agriculture, and among the conifers only three out of about 150 

 for. M> wen 1>\ natural reproduction, by seeding cuts, as in France. All 

 tin- re-t were planted, the experience of the German foresters being that the 

 uniformly straight trees resulting from planting gave a market for all sizes 

 of thinnings which would otherwise be a source of embarrassment as it now 

 i- with u.-. 



KIEFEE (SYLVESTER PINE) 



itahly the most interesting study of all was the growth and disposal 



of the immense forests of kiefer or Sylvester pine which cover Prussia. From 



Handling to Berlin, dozens of these forests are passed, and in every direction 



from I'.erlin, westward as far as Magdeburg, eastward through Prussia to 



- I 'i ens-en, and southwards well into Saxony, they number hundreds, from 



all tracts of forty or fifty acres up to areas of several thousand. The 



natural Hoil is all poor and sandy, scantily mixed with loam, and will grow 



..nly potatoes and cabbages, with a little pasturage, so that forestry pays 



almost as well as agriculture, ranking therefore as one of the principal in- 



dustries. This immense sandy plain covers a large per cent of the total area 



of liermony, and the country seems to have grown up with the kiefer pine 



an a national institution, for the influence of this tree upon the life and 



hite.ture of the people is one of the most logical instances of cause and 



to IK; met with in observing the fundamental characteristics of a nation. 



To provide a market for the six-inch kiefer thinnings there is the typical 



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