AGRICULTUKE ON THE KUIXE. 101 



in the Rhenish province, the most populous and tlic 

 most industrious part of the kingdom, the proportion is 

 as three to four, there being- 3,148,713 morg. forest, and 

 4,037,690 morg. arable land. Nearly the whole of the 

 surface covered with forests, it is true, is mountain-land 

 and in part very elevated. Of the summits of the 

 Ardennes the Michaelsberg is 1 860 feet, the Ei-nstberg 

 2080 feet over the level of the Rhine. In the Hunds- 

 riick, which adjoins it on the south, with its ramifications, 

 the Hochwald and the Idar, there are many summits 

 between 2000 and 2500 feet above the Rhine level. 

 Opposite Remagen, where the Ardennes run out to the 

 Rhine, a chain of similar volcanic hills rises abruj)tly in 

 tiie Drachenfels, and stretches inwardr, far into the back 

 country. Near the Rhine are the well known Seven Hills, 

 and, following the course of the little river Sieg, a moun- 

 tainous tract of considerable extent runs through the district 

 of Sicgen into the heart of Westphalia. This district we 

 shall find worthy of a special visit, as the forest system 

 followed in it differs from that which obtains in the rest 

 of Germany, 



On the left bank of the Rhine, in the Ardennes and 

 adjacent forests, the production of timber is the object 

 kept in view. The trunk of the tree forms the object 

 of the forester's care, and the regular quantity that 

 can be felled, with the mode of keeping up the supply, is 

 what he has to calculate. Beech, oak, and fir are the 

 chief descriptions of timber met with ; beech is almosw 

 exclusively used for fire-wood ; oak gives materials for 

 building and for machinery ; fir is used both for firewood 

 and for building. With all the attention that has been 

 devoted to the subject, it has been found impossible to lay 



