106 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July-August, 1912. 



portion is used for pulping, can bo f^rown 

 in from 70 to SO years, while pine re(iuircs 

 120 years to reach a marketable size. Lat- 

 terly the formation of mixed i)lautations 

 has been gaining favour. The hardwoods 

 are mixed to a certain extent, Imt pure 

 beech predominates. 



As regards system of management, the 

 state woods are worked almost exclusively 

 under a system of high forest with clear 

 cutting. There are some coppice woods and 

 a few woods worked on the selection sys- 

 tem, but they are not large enough to war- 

 rant their being considered separately. 

 Among smaller non-state-owned woods, on 

 the other hand, the coppice and selection 

 systems are much more in evidence. 



Of the wood felled in Saxony 97 jier cent 

 is coniferous, and of this 84 jjer cent, is 

 merchantaljle timber. This finds a market 

 as building material, mining piops and 

 pulpwood. The pulping industry originat- 

 ed in Saxony, and has consideral)le influence 

 on the system of management of the woods. 

 Material for pulping is almost exclusively 

 supplied by spruce, though in Prussia, where 

 spruce is scarcer, pine is sometimes used 

 for this purpose. 



Of the hardwood felled only about half 

 is manufactured, the rest finding a ready 

 market as fire-wood. The chair and toy 

 factories absorb the greater part of the 

 beech lumlier, the last-named industry being 

 of consideralile importance. 



Tending of the Woods. 



Pellings are not commenceil on a cutting 

 area rantil the safety of the adjoining 

 plantation from the attacks of natural and 

 animal agencies is assured, so that a period 

 ■of from seven to ten years usually inter- 

 venes Ijetween fellings on two adjacent 

 areas. After cutting over, the area is, as a 

 rule, left for one or two years on account 

 of the danger from the large brown pine 

 weevil, and then planted. After-culture is 

 usually necessary for from five to ten years, 

 accorcling to the locality and the head of 

 deer maintained on the range. At an age 

 of about fifteen years, the plantation be- 

 gins to close in, and at this ])eriod 'weeds,' 

 such as birch, may be taken out. Prom 

 the age of twenty years, self-pruning sets 

 in and thinning is beneficial. According 

 to the theory of ' the highest interest on 

 the forest capital,' the heavier the thin- 

 nings, within certain limits, the more re- 

 munerative is the forest. Accordingly, thin- 

 ning is very important, for this reason, as 

 well as for the reason that thinning im- 

 proves the growth of the remaining trees. 

 This is regulated by the Organisation of 

 Woods Bureau in Dresden every ten years, 

 and a special part is set aside for this 

 item in the working plan. The chief prin- 

 ciples of thinning as practised in Saxony 

 are embodied in the three words ' early, fre- 

 quent and moderate. ' From the thicket 



jieriod on deail trees are taken out every 

 year. This iliminishes the risk of fire and 

 insect calamities and yields enough to 

 cover the cost of renio\al. 



Formation and Organization of the 

 Working Section. 



The range is divided into compartments 

 by rides and main rides, the latter being 

 from eight to ten yards wide, and as a rule 

 jiarallel to the direction of the prevailing 

 \vinds (in Europe west and southwest), 

 while the former are between two and three 

 yards wide and at right angles to the main 

 rides. These rides form the frame of the 

 working section, facilitate any surveying to 

 be done and serve as logging roads. By 

 making them broad enough, the trees on 

 their edges develop bushy stems and strong 

 roots, thus acting as a series of wind-belts. 



The compartments vary in size from 

 thirty-five to seventy acres, and the ten- 

 dency is to arrange them so that the length 

 is about double the width, and so that the 

 long side faces the wind. Customary di- 

 mensions are 600 and 300 yanls, though 

 these depend largely on the road net- work, 

 and, in hilly country, entirely on the sur- 

 face formation of the range. The compart- 

 ment is a permanent forest division, but is 

 sjjlit up into a number of non-permanent 

 subcomjjartments. 



The subeompartment is the unit of the 

 working section, without which the pro- 

 per carrying out of the working plan would 

 be impossible. Each of the subdivisions 

 differs from its neighbours in some impor- 

 tant respect, and may change or lose its 

 individuality as one rotation succeeds an- 

 other. The ranges in Saxony are of suffi- 

 cient uniformity in themselves and small 

 enough to allow of all the woods on any 

 range being included in one working plan, 

 so that the working section is identical with 

 the range. The working section is divided 

 up into a number of felling series, the 

 tendency being to make these short, of at 

 most two compartments. Cutting is started 

 on the east and, with intervals of from 

 seven to ten years, continued toward the 

 west. Temporary felling series are started 

 as occasion demands, as, for instance, when 

 a severance cutting is made, but these are 

 absorlted into permanent felling series 

 sooner or later. 



The short felling series was first intro- 

 duced in Saxony, its great advantage being 

 that it gives great elasticity to the system 

 of management. The idea is to build as 

 many felling series as possible, and, by 

 means of broad rides, make each one quite 

 independent. Under this system there is a 

 large choice in selecting the cutting areas 

 for any period, whereas in the case of long, 

 and therefore few, felling series, the choice 

 is more limited, and the disorganisation and 

 loss is much more serious in the event of 

 any extraordinary felling, such as an insect 



