STUDY IN EUROPE FOR AMERICAN FOREST STUDENTS. 



II 



mon labor, offers a poor field to those in 

 search of work. 



To lumber on the principle of a sus- 

 tained annual yield, in other words to 

 take out of a forest in one year the quantity 

 of wood which has actually been produced 

 in that year, is the basis of forest manage- 

 ment in Germany, because it has there 

 been found to yield better returns upon the 

 capital invested in the forest than any other 

 form of management. If the sanctioned 

 annual yield, and no more, be harvested 

 each year, the forest will, under proper 

 care, continue to produce the sanctioned 

 annual yield for ever, just as a good invest- 

 ment continues to produce its annual in- 

 terest. If the sanctioned annual yield be 

 utilized with close regard to the silvicul- 

 tural requirements of the forest, it will in- 

 crease in proportion with the improvement 

 in the condition of the forest as a whole. 

 There are cases, however, among which 

 is the Spessart, where the utilization of the 

 sanctioned annual yield alone, may not 

 prove immediately the best financial policy. 

 This is sometimes the result of local eco- 

 nomic conditions, but more often of the 

 condition of the forest itself. The Spes- 

 sart, from the standpoint of the forester, 

 is not in good order. Its old Oaks and 

 Beeches are still of high value, but many 

 of them long ago passed their maturity. 

 To leave them standing, is to incur loss 

 from two sources: from the decay of the 

 timber they contain : and because the space 

 they occupy in the forest might be filled 

 by sound healthy young trees, producing 

 wood of good quality at a comparatively 

 rapid rate. The best silvicultural meas- 

 ure would be, to remove, as soon as pos- 

 sible, all these Oaks and Beeches which 

 have passed their maturity, without regard 

 to the limit prescribed by the sanctioned 

 annual yield. Then, after the forest has 

 been put in good condition, by these " im- 

 provement cuttings," further utilization 

 might be based upon its actual production, 

 without danger of this production being in 

 a measure offset by the presence, in the 

 forest, of trees, which are not only growing 

 exceedingly slowly, but many of which are 

 losing rapidly in value through decay. 

 However, in the Spessart, in order to con- 



tinue to provide the peasants of the neigh- 

 borhood with material for their sawmills 

 and for the manufacture of staves, it is 

 necessary to cut upon exceedingly con- 

 servative lines. The Oak of this region is 

 divided into three well-defined classes, in 

 point of age : Class I comprises Oak of 

 about 400 years old. Class II, Oak 250 

 years old, and Class III, Oak 100 years 

 old. In order, therefore, to maintain a 

 sustained annual yield. Classes I and II, 

 both of which are merchantable timber, 

 must be removed slowly enough to allow 

 Class III to be ready for the market b}' 

 the time the removal of Classes I and II 

 is effected. 



Since the Oak is the more desirable tree 

 in the Spessart, producing timber of high 

 value while the Beech as a species suit- 

 able only for firewood is subordinate in 

 importance, the first object of the manage- 

 ment is the raising of merchantable Oak 

 timber of as good a quality and in as short 

 a time as possible. The Oak being a 

 tree exceedingly intolerant of shade, has 

 not the power of forming the dense ma- 

 ture stands characteristic of trees strongly 

 tolerant of shade, as for example the Adi- 

 rondack Spruce. In the case of piu-e woods 

 of Spruce, the struggle for existence is 

 prolonged indefinitely and the stand re- 

 mains dense to a great age, because each 

 tree which helps to form it, possesses the in- 

 herent power to endure excessive and long 

 continued shade with but little detriment 

 beyond decrease in its rate of growth. With 

 the Spessart Oak, the case is different. 

 The tree needs so much light, that it soon 

 succumbs to suppression. The struggle 

 for existence is consequently short, the 

 stand thins out rapidly through the death 

 of over-topped trees and becomes sparse 

 and open at an early age. This may not 

 seem to be a matter of much importance. It 

 is, however, a source of so much difficulty, 

 that it has rendered the raising of Oak 

 timber in pure woods impossible in Ger- 

 many. Not only does it prevent, by the 

 formation of an insufficient, scanty stand, 

 the full utilization of the space it occupies, 

 but also results in the reproduction of 

 short, branchy trunks and knotty defective 

 timber. One of the most incontrovertible 



