NATIONAL-ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES. 541 



forest range of Viernlieim will suffice to explain it. The felling, 

 and clearance of the felling-area is hurried-on so that the land 

 may he cultivated early in the spring. All the wood is uprooted 

 except a few standards (oaks or Scotch pines). The whole cleared 

 felling-area is cultivated to a depth of from 1 foot to 16 inches, 

 and the thoroughly worked soil restocked by sowing, or by 

 planting in lines 1| meters (say 5 feet) apart. Oaks or conifers 

 are used for this purpose, according to locality. For oaks, acorns 

 are sown 3 meters (10 feet) apart ; at the same time Scotch 

 pine nurses are planted or soAvn in rows to protect the oaks, and 

 are eventually removed in thinnings. The rotation is fixed at 

 100 years. In the intervals (4 feet broad) between the plants, 

 field-crops are grown on the better soils for 4 years and on 

 poorer soils for 2 years. 



In the first year it is usual to grow a crop of potatoes, in 

 the second year, winter-corn ; and if the field-crops are continued 

 during the third and fourth years the same order is followed. 

 When the potatoes are dug the intervals between the forest 

 plants are also hoed, weeded, and the plants almost as carefully 

 tended as if they were in a forest-nursery. If in the first year 

 there should not be enough plants or seed to stock the ground, 

 the whole area is cultivated for a potato-crop, and, as an exception, 

 the restocking only undertaken in the autumn. 



In Hesse about 10,000 acres of forest land have been thus 

 treated. In Wiirttemberg also, this system has been extensively 

 adopted, especially on a rich soil near Bibrach. The method 

 has also been tried in the Prussian provinces of Pomerania, 

 Silesia, Hesse-Nassau, and in Alsace-Lorraine ; in some 

 Bohemian districts ; in Hungary, Avhere also crops of maize are 

 reared. At present, however, the agricultural aspect of this 

 system has gi-eatly lost in interest for well-known reasons. 



Section II. — National-economic importance or Field-Crops 



COMBINED with FORESTRY. 



The national-economic advantages of combining field-crops and 

 forestry consist in the increased production of food, the fact 

 that this can be secured without any manure, and last but not 

 least, because the increased supply of straw really increases the 



