REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I913 53 



noticed that this damage was always slight, for some unknown 

 reason, in the vicinity of mature stands. He has largely obliterated 

 that damage by making his cuttings in strips from 75 to 100 feet 

 in width, leaving stands more or less mature upon either side, until 

 the planted strip has attained a safe size. These strips, in various 

 stages of development, present a curious appearance, and they are 

 of course on soils that will not yield the luxuriant natural regenera- 

 tion that obtains in the compartments nearest the Ysenburg station. 

 Under such impoverished soil conditions, the oberforester may 

 eventually be forced to adopt the expensive method in vogue at 

 Eberstadt. 



At Ysenburg is one of the few, if not the only one, of the strictly 

 forest railroads in Germany. It consists of a narrow gauge line 

 running from Ysenburg down through the Mitteldick range to the 

 river Main. Its poor success is evidence of the uselessness of rail- 

 road transportation in a large range where the woods products go 

 out in many different directions and which is traversed by excel- 

 lent stone roads, as are the Ysenburg and Mitteldick ranges which 

 adjoin. 



3 MITTELDICK FORESTS 



The Mitteldick range adjoins the Ysenburg ranges on the west 

 and was, originally, under the dominion of the princes of Ysenburg, 

 but is now a state (Hesse-Darmstadt) forest. The Scotch pine 

 stands here are similar in every respect to those described on the 

 Ysenburg range. The object of particular interest on this range are 

 the oak stands; remnants of the primeval Rhine valley forests. 

 They are maintained today in the form of " shelterwood group 

 types of regeneration. " The groups are particularly dense and 

 thicketlike, and form an interesting sight, always highest in the 

 middle, and spreading toward each other as the seed years and 

 soil conditions allow. Forstmeister Hillerich aims to join these 

 groups at a time when he shall have finished cutting out the remain- 

 ing 15 to 20 old oaks for each acre of the original stand. All 

 stages are to be seen from the beginning of tiny groups in the open- 

 ings of the medium aged oak forests to large masses of groups now 

 fully united and from which the last of the old oaks have been 

 removed. 



Where the shelterwood group method of regeneration has not 

 been a success, and it is not always a success because of unfavorable 

 soil conditions in some places, the Forstmeister has resorted to other 

 means of securing an oak stand. One large strip was planted, 16 



