62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



chiefly agricultural while the western portions are semimountainoiis 

 and densely wooded. Trippstatt is reached by carriage from 

 Kaiserslautern, which in turn is about -two hours train ride west 

 from Worms. 



At Trippstatt the underlying rock is soft, red sandstone of Triassic 

 origin, and the soil, except the alluvial flats, is of a reddish color 

 and contains a large amount of clay. The region was originally 

 covered with a hardwood forest and the pine, spruce, fir and larch, 

 now perfectly at home and very abundant, are all introductions. 



The Trippstatt range consists of about 10,000 acres, half of which 

 is under the direct management of the forstmeister and the other 

 half under the management of the forstassessor. Many years ago 

 this range was the private property of the Hache family, which 

 constituted one of the countless little principalities similar to the 

 princes of Ysenburg. The highways in the Palatinate are built and 

 maintained by the forest department, a fact which doubtless results 

 in a serious lowering of the net revenues. The roads around 

 Trippstatt were constructed by the Tellfort method and the complete 

 cost was about $5000 a mile. Having charge of the roadways, the 

 forest department secures some advantages in return by placing 

 many of their little tree nurseries along the roads. A beautiful 

 valley, traversed by a winding macadam road, leads from Kaisers- 

 lautern up to Trippstatt, and along this road there occurred a few 

 years ago one of the few forest fires of recent years. Some fifteen 

 acres were burned over and it is said that only a change of wind 

 prevented the fire from doing greater damage. The growth was 

 beech with clumps of spruce. Curiously enough, it appears as if 

 many of the clumps of spruce escaped destruction because they had 

 conserved enough moisture in the soil to check the intensity of the 

 ground fire, while the beech were entirely killed. 



On the summits of the hills the soil is very poor. Here are some 

 quite interesting stands of beech fully 100 years old, the trees small, 

 crooked and far apart, while close by are artificial stands of white 

 pine 25 years old, in rows, already with an average diameter of 

 6 inches and truly fine in appearance. In fact, the excellent ap- 

 pearance of the coniferous stands here, whether pure or mixed, of 

 even or of uneven age, in contrast to the native growth is most 

 surprising. 



Trippstatt, however, has other points of greater interest to the 

 forester than these old stands of beech. There is located here a 

 Scotch pine experimental garden, where were raised from seed, 

 in the same nursery, planted on the same day, and transferred to 



