152 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



usually elapses during which, in a plantation on an English 

 estate, several thinnings would have been carried out, and the 

 thinnings been of so little value as hardly to defray the 

 expense of removal. Thinning repetitions are conducted on 

 the same principle throughout until the end of the rotation 

 period ; but after middle age, when height-growth has been 

 attained and it is desired to accelerate trunk development, or 

 thickness of bole, the tops of the trees are allowed more room 

 in order to increase the leafage, which, in turn, increases the 

 trunk increment. The aim throughout, however, is to preserve 

 a uniform rate of growth as tending to improve the quality of 

 the timber. It is held by German authorities that quickly 

 grown timber is best in the case of broad-leaved species, and 

 that the reverse is the 1 case with the firs, the width of the 

 annual rings being the test in each case. According to this, 

 it would of course be best to thin hard-woods freely in order 

 to encourage top-growth and so augment the width of the 

 annual rings, and the reverse in the case of the firs, so a com- 

 promise has to be effected, in thinning each species, in order 

 to secure the best general results as regards a crop. 



As regards the weight of crop produced in these German 

 forests, we are told that from eight thousand to ten 

 thousand feet was a common thing in a final cut; and 

 we readily believed it from what we saw. Some 

 experiments, however, carried out in the Duchy of Saxe 

 Wiemar, and the results of which were given us by the 

 forest officers there, showed that on one hectare the quantity 

 of Scotch fir timber, one hundred years of age, amounted to 

 eleven hundred and twelve cubic metres — equivalent to about 

 twenty thousand cubic feet — per English acre. This was sold 

 by auction at the rate of £475 per English acre ; twenty-seven 

 per cent, being disposed of for firewood. These results exceed 

 anything recorded in Britain, where, however,' they may be 

 realised under the same system of culture; and management. 

 German foresters assess the productive capacity of soil and 

 locality as closely as possible, and the following table, taken 

 from Schlich's Manual, vol. i., p. 156, is given to show the 

 number of cubic feet per acre that may be reasonably expected 

 from one acre of Scotch fir at the final yield, exclusive of 

 thinnings, according to the age of the wood and quality of 

 soil and locality, as indicated by the numbers — No. I. repre- 

 senting the highest quality, and No. V. the lowest. "The 

 figures present the mean of very numerous measurements " in 

 Germany. 



