5i0 FIELIJ-CROPS IN FORESTS. 



coppic-e, iiL'Jirh- always of oak ; it has l)eeii practised for centuries 

 iu the Odeiiwald, Siej,'en, Westphalia, Hildesbeim and several 

 other localities, and is most extensively followed in the district 

 of Beerfeldeu and Hirschhorn in the Neckar-valley. As soon 

 as the oak-coppice compartments have been felled and peeled, 

 the bark removed, and the felling-area cleared (usually about the 

 end of May), the felling-area, on which the oak-stools are 

 somewhat far apart, is cultivated by hoeing and burning, as in 

 the previously described methods. At present, in the Odenwald 

 and in Siegen the cultivation is only for a single crop, and the 

 area is sown with winter-corn (in October or November). In 

 Siegen a light plough, or cultivator, is used before sowing. The 

 harvest follows in the succeeding year, and the felling-area is 

 then left for the coppice to grow up. In the third year, broom 

 generally appears, which is used as farm-yard litter. Sometimes 

 in Siegen the felling-area is grazed in the third year by sheep, 

 but as a general rule by cattle, till the Gth year or later. 



In the Odenwald an acre of the best Ilacktcald yields about 8] 

 bushels of grain. The felling-areas are leased in small lots for 

 cultivation either after the felling and clearance of the wood and 

 birk, or together with the wood and bark. In Hirschhorn and 

 Ik'erfelden the forest owners first auction-off the bark to tanners 

 at so much a cwt., and at the same time the right of cultivation 

 in small lots to the peasantry ; the latter also buy the standing- 

 crop, bark and wood, and the right of cultivating as well, under 

 agreement to sell the bark at a stated price to the tanners (see 

 p. 503). In Siegen an acre yields on the average 13 bushels of 

 grain. The right of cultivation is here exercised on the annually 

 felled areas by an association of peasants. There has recently 

 been much less demand for Jiarkwdld cultivation, as more grain 

 is imported, and p(uisants find remunerative employment away 

 from their native villages ; the landowners are therefore compelled 

 to make an allowance to the coppice purchasers to induce tlicni 

 to cultivate the soil, and thus increase the production of bark. 



(b) Waldfeldbau. — WaldfeWmu is a similar method to that of 

 Hachicdlil, but is ajiplied to high forest instead of coppice. The 

 method adopted by Furstnicistcr Reiss of Hesse-Darmstadt has 

 been exactly followed in different German countries, and the 

 following account of the experience gained in the well-known 



