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hand each year. In carrying out such a system, considerations must be attended to, such 

 as the relation of the block to the whole forest system ; the needs of the people in timber, 

 iirewood, leaves for manure and pasturage ; the soil, the situation as regards winds (which 

 must be attended to in felling to lessen damage), and precautions against insects, fire, 

 trespass or theft. 



The plans need revising every twenty years, though it is marvellous to notice to what 

 an extent the original scheme has generally answered. 



After a forest has (to give some idea of management) by thinning, planting, and so 

 forth, been gradually got into perfect order as described, the system of natural reproduc- 

 tion forms great part of the German method. It is as follows : — 



The rotation and periods are fixed in the working plan. For beech "hochwald" it 

 is in Hanover one hundred and twenty years, divided into six periods of twenty years 

 each, that is to say, when the forest has been brought into order there should be nearly 

 equal areas under crop of trees in each of the six periods, that is, from one year to twenty ; 

 from twenty years to forty, and so on. When a block arrives in the last period, felling 

 is commenced by what is called a preparatory clearing, followed by a " clearing for light" 

 in the first year after seed has fallen (the beech seeds every fourth or fifth year) with the 

 object of — 1st, preparing the ground for the seed ; 2nd, allowing it to germinate ; 3rd, 

 affording light to the young seedlings. If there is a good seed-year and sufficient rain, 

 the ground should be covered with seedlings in two or three years, after the first clearing ; 

 but it is better generally to wait for a second seed year, and aid nature by hand-sowing, 

 transplanting from patches of many to the barer spots, and turning up the turf to give 

 the seeds a better chance of germinating. 



When the ground is well covered the old trees are felled and carefully removed, so 

 as to do as little damage as possible to the new crop, and the block recommences life, so 

 to speak, nothing further being done till the first thinning. The time allowed between 

 the first and final clearings is from eight to fifteen years. But in many provinces they 

 do away with this system, and remove the old trees so gradually that there can hardly be 

 said to be any clearing at all, the new crop of trees being well advanced before the last of 

 the old trees is removed. 



In these forests can be seen all the periods of growth — nurseries and schools for 

 seedlings, which are transferred thither, at the age of two to four years, from the seed- 

 beds, and are pruned and transplanted as often as seems required till finally planted out, 

 sometimes not till twelve or fourteen years old. There are many methods of planting 

 adopted here. The steepest and most rocky sides of the hills are covered with forests, 

 which have been created by the labours of the Forest Department. In jnemj such 

 places, where even the few handfuls of soil placed round the young tree had to be carried 

 some distance, it is not contended that the first plantations will yield a pecuniary profit, 

 but the improvement in climate by the retention of the moisture, and reclamation of 

 large tracts formerly barren and unproductive, is taken into account ; besides which the 

 dropping of leaves and needles from the trees will ere long create a soil and vegetation, 

 and insure the success of plantations in future years, and consequent surplus. 



