54 Germany. 
sure, many things that probably were not really put into 
practice. 
a. Natural regeneration was at first merely favored, 
without the adoption of any very positive measures to 
secure it, namely, by removing the brush so as not to 
smother the young growth, by keeping out cattle from 
the young growth (Schonung), by removing the cut 
wood within the year, so as to give young growth a 
chance for establishing itself. 
If the selection method of lumbering did not produce 
any desirable result in reproduction, the clear cutting 
which was practiced without system where charcoal man- 
ufacturing or river driving invited to it, did even less so. 
In either case, besides the defective and damaged old 
stubs which were left in the lumbering, a poor after- 
growth of undesirable character remained, as is the case 
with us on so many areas. 
As early as 1524 and 1529 we have record of a con- 
scious attempt to secure a reproduction by leaving ten 
to thirty seed trees per acre; but the result was disap- 
pointing, for this practice, being applied to the shallow- 
rooted spruce, the inevitable occurred, namely, the seed 
trees were thrown by the winds. 
This experience led to the prescription (in 1565) to 
leave, besides seed trees, parts of the other stand for 
protection against wind damage; later, wind protection 
was sought by leaving parcels standing on all four sides, 
giving rise to a checker-board progress of fellings or a 
group system of reproduction, which by the middle of 
the 18th century had developed into the regular strip 
system, being applied in Austria (1766) to fir and spruce 
