THE CULTIVATED FORESTS OF EUROPE. l8l 



Aetljods of Calf ore. 



Tn European forests there is always a large quantity of small timber for sale 

 on account of the manner in which the forests are cultivated. Pine and spruce 

 trees are mostly started in nurseries, in which beds are made and seed is sown in 

 much the same way as in the vegetable garden. After growing in these seed 

 beds for two years* the little trees, then about six inches high, are transplanted 

 into other beds, where they are spaced about five or six inches apart, and where 

 they remain for two or three years more. They are then about a foot or fifteen 

 inches tall, and are taken to a field from which the forest has been removed and 

 are set in the ground spaced only four feet apart, or thereabouts, so that in a 

 short time they will crowd each other. This crowded condition compels the trees 

 to grow tall and slender and to shed their lower branches, thereby permitting a 

 growth of timber free of knots. It also hinders evaporation by shading the soil, 

 a matter oF prime importance. After attaining a satisfactory height growth 

 the trees take on a diameter growth in due time. The trees are usually planted 

 in straight rows, in some cases by means of a rope stretched across the field as a 

 guide. 



If the soil is of a good quality the ground receives no previous preparation, 

 except that the stumps may be taken out. In light, sandy soils it is a common 

 practice to run furrows about three feet apart. A surface plow with a double 

 moldboard is used, which goes about eight inches deep. This is followed, in the 

 same furrows, by a narrow subsoil plow which sinks to the depth of one foot, 

 and which is usually drawn by two teams. 



Instead of being plowed, the ground is sometimes dug with a spade. The 

 diggers advance in straight lines across the field making square holes, twenty 

 inches on a side and twenty inches deep, the soil removed in digging each being 

 thrown into the preceding hole. The soil thus loosened retains the moisture 

 better. Pine is almost invariably the species planted in such poor, sandy ground. 



In about twenty years a thinning is necessary, as the trees then crowd each 

 other so much that many are suppressed, in more or- less degree, by their stronger 

 neighbors, and these latter are also hindered materially in their growth. In spruce 

 forests sometimes more than half the trees are removed in this first thinning 

 These are sold for firewood, poles and various other purposes. The fuel wood 

 brings, laid at the roadside, about two dollars and twenty-five cents a cord, the 



* Scotch pine is, in many localities, taken from the seed bed directly to the field when it is one 

 year old. If left for a longer time in the nursery, it is much damaged by a fungal disease called 

 " Schiitte." 



