vially are made various kinds of machinery. 
It is 27 kilometers from Ziirich. The forest. 
lies on the rising land immediately behind 
the town. 
Whereas the Sihlwald is predominantly a 
beech forest (60 percent), Wintherthur is a 
coniferous stand, containing in some of its 
compartments as fine trees as one could ask 
to see anywhere; pines, spruces and firs 120 
to 140 years old, 20 to 26 inches diameter 
breast high and from 100 to 125 feet tall. 
None of the trees that one sees in the Euro- 
pean forests has very large diameter, but 
in the better forests they make up for this 
by their tall, straight, clean, cylindrical form. 
Winterthur is a case in point. 
The forest of Winterthur covers an area 
of 2984 acres (1208 hectare). It has long 
been a city forest and for more than a cen- 
tury has been managed under a definite 
working plan. The rotation normally in use 
is 100 years, but there are numerous stands 
older than this and in certain places over- 
X 
to 1.5 francs. Somewhat larger branch wood, 
especially of the broadleaf species, is made up 
into bundles 80 centimeters (31% inches) 
long and one meter (39% inches) in circum- 
ference, held by two wires. Fifty bundles 
are considered to equal one cubic meter. The 
larger fuel wood is corded and sold alongside 
the roads, the same allowance for open space 
in piled wood being used as is customary with 
us, namely, 30 percent. Dead branches and 
cones are collected by poor persons on certain 
days of the week, so absolutely nothing which 
can be used is allowed to go to waste. This 
is not an argument that American forests 
should be handled in like manner, but it is of 
interest to a visitor to see the extreme 
lengths to which close utilization can be car- 
ried under different economic conditions. 
In Winterthur, as in other of the city for- 
ests visited in Switzerland and in Germany, 
ample provision is made for those who re- 
pair to the forest for recreation. All the 
crossings of the forest roads have sign boards, 
NATURAL 
REPRODUCTION 
OF SILVER 
FIR AND 
BEECH GROUP- 
WISE SHELTER- 
WOOD METHOD, 
FOREST OF 
WINTERTHUR, 
SWITZERLAND 
standards of pine are being allowed to re- 
main into or through the second rotation. 
The silvicultural method followed is group- 
wise shelterwood. Small openings are made 
in the mature forest, which as reproduction 
begins are gradually enlarged by the removal 
of more and more of the old trees, until fin- 
ally the old stand is replaced by the new 
crop. Where the natural seeding is not sat- 
isfactory the planting of nursery stock is re- 
sorted to. It must be remembered that Win- 
terthur, in common with the other forests 
with which this letter deals, has a system of 
permanent forest roads, so that with the ready 
market for all forest products even a few 
trees can be removed from a given place at 
a profit. 
Particularly close utilization is a feature 
of this forest. Even the small branches of 
the spruces and firs are sold for use in cov- 
ering garden beds. The price per bundle is 1 
seats are provided at frequent intervals, trees 
are cut out to make vistas where there is a 
chance for an outlook, and on the top of the 
hill in the center of the forest is a tall steel 
tower from which one can get an admirable 
view over the surrounding country. 
FOREST ADMINISTRATION 
IN SWITZERLAND 
The administration of the Winterthur for- 
est, as is also the case with the Sihlwald, is 
in the hands of a stadtforstmeister, who has 
a technically trained assistant (forst adjunkt) 
and several ‘‘unterférster’, or guards and 
rangers. At Winterthur there are six men of 
this grade, and from 20 to 40 nermanent la- 
borers. Owing to. the present high rate of 
wages the number is now reduced to twenty. 
The stadtforstmeister is responsible to the 
oberforstmeister for the canton, who also 
has the supervision of the forstmeisters in 
charge of the cantonal forests of the several 
(67) 
