454 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 14, 1888. 



fruit, are now dark bronzy red upon the lower parts of the 

 branches, while those nearer the ends are still green and lus- 

 trous. V. nudum and V. cassmoides are both beautiful in the 

 autumn, their deep green leaves first shading into purple, and 

 then turning to the color of claret wine. V. Lentago and V. 

 prunifoliiiin are handsome objects, too, at this season of the 

 year, when their leaves have turned from bright green to 

 orange and purple. 



There is a great difference in the behavior of the different 

 Roses in regard to the change of foliage. Most Old World 

 species lose their leaves without any change of color at all. 

 Rosa rugosa is an e,xception to this rule. Rosa spinosissima, 

 the Scotch Rose, is another, although the colors which its 

 leaves assume in the autumn are not very striking. The spe- 

 cies which inhabit western North America lose their leaves 

 without any change of color, while those peculiar to the eastern 

 part of the continent change more or less brilliantly. R. 

 nitida and R. Ivcida surpass them all, and there are few shrubs 

 upon which the autumn foliage is more persistent or more 

 beautiful than upon these two Roses. Masses of them, cov- 

 ered with ripe fruit, and fairly glowing with the deep tints of 

 their leaves, are not surpassed just now in brilliancy by any 

 plants in the Arboretum. 



The foliage covering the long, wand-like branches of Andro- 

 meda Mariana is intensely scarlet, while that of Leucothoc 

 raccmosa is not less attractive, although a large proportion of 

 green is still seen among the shades of red, which in a few 

 days will make this one of the most beautiful of our native 

 shrubs. 



It is worth noting, perhaps, that the leaves of Qiie?-cus den- 

 tata, a species of eastern Asia, of much promise here as an 

 ornamental tree, turn bright orange and scarlet, not a very 

 common combination of autumn colors among Oaks ; that 

 while our North American Yellow-wood {Cladas/ris tinctoria) 

 is a beautiful object in the autumn, from the bright, warm 

 yellow of its leaves, the eastern Asia representative of this 

 genus loses its leaves fully two weeks earlier without any 

 change of color ; and that among the Larches the most beau- 

 tiful in autumn coloring is the Japanese Larix leptohpis, upon 

 which the leaves are now a clear canary-yellow, and much 

 brighter than those of either the American or the European 

 species. The leaves of Pseudolarix, one of the hardiest and 

 inost beautiful of exotic Conifers, turn to a deep orange hue in 

 the autunm. They fell from the trees, however, several days 

 ago. 



October sgtli. J. 



The Forest. 



European Forest Management. 



"\XyE hear much reference to the excellent forest manage- 

 » • ment prevailing in European countries, and on the other 

 hand, the statement that the application of such management 

 would be impracticable with us, and that we cannot learn 

 much, if anything, from European practice. Both statements, 

 I fear, are mostly made without definite knowledge of the sub- 

 ject and without proper consideration. It would be of interest, 

 therefore, to brielfy state what the principal features of Euro- 

 pean forest management are, and wherein its introduction is 

 unsuitable to our conditions. 



We shall have to discern between forest management by the 

 state and by individual owners. The former, which at- 

 tempts, and, to some extent, represents, an ideal forest 

 management, is carried on upon considerations of the general 

 welfare, of continuity and regularity in material supplies, and 

 upon other considerations of national economy; while the pri- 

 vate forest management, imitating mostly the methods of the 

 state forester, works mainly for the highest profits, and only to 

 a limited extent recognizes the desirability of a regular and 

 continuous revenue from the forest. Of course forest man- 

 agement is differently developed in the various states and por- 

 tions of the same state, according to the general development 

 of the country and its local needs. While in north-eastern 

 Prussia, where forest land abounds and population is not very 

 dense, the management is more or less crude, in the western 

 parts a careful and intensive working of the forest takes place. 

 In general we may say that in Germany, and especially in 

 Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony, the science of forestry is" the 

 most highly developed. 



The essential features of a well regulated forest manage- 

 ment, and the principles underlying European, especially 

 German, state forestry, may be briefly stated as follows : 



I. Forestry is regarded as much a business as agriculture ; 

 it means the growing of a wood crop. 



2. A proper economy in a densely populated country re- 

 ciuires that all the agriculturally valuable soil should be, as far 

 as possible, turned to agricultural use; the wood crop is, there- 

 fore, the crop with which to utilize the poorer soils ; agricul- 

 tural lands devoted to forest growth are becoming a rarity. 



3. A proper economy requn-es that every portion of the land 

 be made productive ; therefore, when the crop is utilized, a 

 new crop is planted or its natural reproduction is secured. 



4. Different timbers have a different capacity for reproduc- 

 ing themselves naturally; the natural reproduction is therefore 

 either encouraged or artificially supplied; the reproduction is 

 expected either by sprouts from the stump (coppice), which 

 method is resorted to, however, only for the production of 

 smaller sizes for fire-wood and tan-bark; or it is expected from 

 the seed, when proper preparative cuttings in the old timber 

 must be made, and after the young plants have come up, light 

 and air must be gradually given them by removing the old 

 growth; or, thirdly, after the old growth is removed (clearing) 

 the new crop is sown or planted — generally the latter. 



5. Mixed plantations, especially of Conifers, as dominant 

 growth mixed with deciduous trees, have the preference, in 

 planting, for various reasons which it would take too long 

 to discuss here ; experience has shown which are the proper 

 mixtures, the rapidity of height-growth and the varying capa- 

 city of shade or light endurance possessed by the different 

 trees being the criterion in their choice for mixture. Close 

 planting is practiced, because the shading of the soil, which 

 prevents evaporation, is of prime importance, and because 

 in a close growth, within limits, the trees grow more rapidly 

 in height, or, at least, straighter, forming clean boles, and 

 are not so apt to spread into branches. 



6. But few trees — not more than ten or twelve — are pre- 

 dominantly used in German forestry ; Pine, Spruce, Fir, 

 Beech and Oak, one species of each, being the principal 

 ones. Contrary to statements made by various writers, the 

 bulk of the German forests — probably fully two-thirds of them 

 — consist of Conifers, and the planting mainly concerns itself 

 with Pine and Spruce. Beech groves are usually reproduced 

 by natural seeding, or more rarely by planting in bunches ; 

 Oak is introduced by sowing the acorns or by planting one to 

 three-year-old plants on deeply cultivated plats ; on better 

 soils larger plants are used, and for tan-bark coppices often 

 the roots alone are planted. For Pine, the rule is to clear 

 small strips, followed by planting with one and two-year-old 

 (not transplanted) seedlings, after cultivation with the plow 

 and suljsoil plow or simple preparation of the soil by the 

 hoe. For the Spruce, also, clearing in . moderately wide 

 strips, with subseciuent planting, is the rule ; but sometimes 

 the reproduction is by natural seeding. For planting Spruce, 

 transplanted plants or else bunches of from three to six plants 

 in a bunch are used — the latter method, however, is losing 

 ground. Larches are planted only as single individuals in 

 intermixtiu'e, never in pure growths or clumps, as when so 

 planted, it has been observed that they fail and are apt to die 

 early. The other woods are generally used in admixtures, 

 but occasionally in pure growths on special sites, as, for in- 

 stance, the Alder in overflowed swamps and the Birch on 

 safety strips along railroads. 



7. In the management of the crop, thinning out is the prin- 

 cipal operation. Cultivation with the plow to subdue weeds, 

 etc., is rarely resorted to. This thinning is done first when 

 the crop is eight or ten years old, and is then periodically or 

 annually repeated. Farmers get their fire-wood by these 

 thinnings. The object of the thinning is to give more light to 

 the crowns of the remaining trees, in order to stimulate di- 

 ameter-growth after they have attained a good height-growth. 

 The thinning must never be so severe that the soil is de- 

 prived of shade for any length of time. Sometimes when 

 too many trees have been cut out, or under certain other cir- 

 cumstances, it becomes necessary to put in an undergrowth 

 (underplanting) for the purpose of shading the soil ; the clean- 

 ing out of undergrowth — shrubbery, not weeds — practiced 

 sometimes in this country, is a useless if not an injurious 

 proceeding. 



8. The annual crop is composed of the annual layers of 

 wood which the trees form each year. As these cannot be 

 harvested, an accumulation of many of them, that is to say, 

 trees of proper size fit for use, are cut, while the younger ones 

 remain to grow on. On large forest areas it is desirable to 

 have annually, or at least periodically, the same amount of 

 cut or revenue. In the state forests, therefore, and those of 

 large estates, these amounts are as much as possible equal- 

 ized from year to year, or at least from period to period. Tlie 

 ideal equalization may be conceived in this wise. Assuming 

 that the most profitable growth is attained in 100 years, as 



