DRY FALLEN WOOD. 5? 3 



cannot be given with any certainty of the absolute amount 

 of fallen dead wood, owing to the variability of the above- 

 mentioned factors and the want of sufficiently extensive obser- 

 vations. 



It will not be an over-estimate to place the average amount of 

 the fallen dead wood at 12 to 15 % of the regular yield of a 

 forest (this does not apply to plantations with the plants wide 

 apart) . 



(a) Extension of Interpretation of the term Dry Fallen Wood. — 

 Obviously, there must be a great increase in the amount of dry 

 fallen wood, if it also includes dead branches on the trees, or if 

 its collectors are allowed to cut down and appropriate dead 

 saplings and poles. 



(b) Density of Crop. — The denser the standing crop, the more 

 dry Avood is produced. The mode of regeneration adopted is 

 influential here, there being a considerable diifereuce in the 

 amount of dry wood if the crop of trees has been formed by 

 natural regeneration by seed, or by more or less dense sowing or 

 planting. The plantations of the present day yield far less 

 intermediate produce, and consequently less dry wood, than 

 natural regeneration or artificial sowings. In the Harz Moun- 

 tains attemi3ts are still made to justify multiple planting owing 

 to its greater yield of intermediate produce. 



(c) Locality and Rate of Growth. — The more favourable a 

 locality, the greater the yield of wood. This increased yield 

 of wood is favoured by the stronger individual growth of the 

 dominating trees, and the greater height to which they grow : 

 a quicker and more vigorous struggle for existence between the 

 trees then ensues, and stems and branches deprived of light 

 by those above them soon perish. Other circumstances being 

 similar, a good locality therefore produces more dry wood than 

 an inferior locality. 



(d) Age of the Crop. — The shedding of dry wood is at its 

 maximum in young pole-woods. The yield from thinnings 

 continues indeed to increase after this period, but not that of 

 dry wood, which keeps on declining n:ore or less rapidly accord- 

 ing to the quality of the locality and the density of the crop. 

 The earlier thinnings commence, and the intermediate yield is 

 regularly utilized, the less the amount of dry wood. 



