478 APPENDIX 



always formed under like conditions of site. G. L. Hartig " himself noted this tendency. 

 The areas of natural reproduction which he established have, because of the infrequency 

 of seed years combined with a lack of systematic distribution, often resulted in extensive 

 even-aged stands. The first result of increasing artificial regeneration has been a clear- 

 cut systematic arrangement of stands according to species and age classes. 



As is well known, the opposite system to the French plan with its establishing of age 

 classes, is practiced in the kingdom of Saxony. The formation of short cutting series 

 has for a long time been a characteristic feature of the Saxon management. Judeich, in 

 his writings, emphasized its superiority; the establishment of Saxon forest organization 

 put it into practice. To promote the systematic arrangement of the working groups 

 there were deliberately made severance cuttings and felhngs which were intended to 

 make possible the independent management of areas located near one another. In the 

 boundaries of surveying, and regulating the Austrian State and institution (Fond-) 

 forests, also the establishing of short cutting series is emphasized. 



Which, then, of the two opposed systems is right, or, since both have weaknesses, the 

 better? In Germany the French system has rarely been developed to such an extent 

 as the visitor to the French forests finds it. In the main the degree of maturity is given 

 first consideration in the location of the cutting areas. The strict regard for the maturity 

 leads to the maintenance of the existing form of the stand . The beginning of maturity, 

 however, and, to a yet greater extent, the actual time of overmaturity of individual 

 stands allow of more or less extension. Many stands could, without seriously interfer- 

 ing with the economic results, be changed one or two periods one side or the other. A 

 fixed policy, therefore, of separating or combining stands at the time of regeneration is 

 inapplicable even in German practice. 



If we investigate the rules for establishing stands which must, in the direction proposed, 

 be considered the most weighty the French system does not give a very favorable im- 

 pression. There are always certain dangers connected with the grouping of even-aged 

 stands, in coniferous forests at least. Many insects, the Maybug (Maikdfer) in par- 

 ticular, appear in greater numbers. The increased fire danger is yet more prominent. 

 The relation of the stands to storms must, however, be regarded as the fundamental 

 and general basis for deciding the proposed question of retaining the stands. And even 

 in this respect we can concede no superiority to the French system, at least not when 

 natural reproduction is relied upon, which, as the Handbook of the Exposition empha- 

 sizes, is regarded as the rule in France. No other form of silvicultural management is 

 so destructively visited by storms as large symmetrically arranged reproduction cuttings. 

 The danger from storms is especially great in the case of old stands, as in the oak and fir 

 stands of the French State forests in which it is no longer possible to strengthen the trees 

 through reproduction cuttings, and to accustom them to a subsequent open position. As 

 a matter ^of fact damage by storm has recently occurred to a very considerable extent in 

 forests managed in accordance with the French method of regulating forest organization. 

 The wind-breakage in oak reproduction cuttings under the mild conditions of the Loire 

 plains has already been mentioned. In the fir stands in the Vosges such severe storm 

 damage has occurred of late that many forest owners are no longer willing to concede 

 the fir any superiority over the spruce as far as resistance to wind throw is concerned. 



When we come to consider the employment of clear cutting there is rather more to be 

 said in favor of the French system. If the principal face presented to the prevailing 



^^ In the Instruktion of 1819, in which (p. 20) we find: "Since the plan for the artificial 

 regulation of forests must be so arranged so that the compartments decided upon for 

 every periodic block shall close on one another as fast as possible, it is necessary 

 . . . {Da der Plan zur kunftigen Beivirtschaftung des Forstes so eingerichtet werden 

 musz, dasz die fiir jede Periode zum abtrieb bestimmten Jagen soviet wie moglich sich 

 einander schlieszen, so musz . . . )." 



