FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 211 



leaden. 



The extensive areas of planted woods in the Black Forest require a large 

 number of nurseries for carrying on the work and for renewing the growth 

 on lands as fast as the timber is removed. The well-managed baumscJiiile at 

 Geioldsau, near Baden-Baden, is a fair type of the small but numerous nurseries 

 that may be found in the various districts of the Schwarzwald. 



It has a square area of about half an acre, is located in a valley running east 

 and west, and is situated about one hundred feet above the bottom of this valley 

 on the southern slope. The forest approaches closely on three sides, while the 

 precipitous slope on the opposite side of the valley is also well covered with tree 

 growth. The nursery is surrounded by a paling fence, and a good road, used mostly 

 for hauling timber, skirts the lower side of the inclosure. 



The area contains one hundred and sixty-eight beds, each fifteen feet long and 

 forty inches wide, separated by paths of convenient width. Two broad paths, 

 four feet wide, one running through the middle up the slope and one at right 

 angles to it, divide it into four equal parts. The main paths which separate 

 the beds, and which run up the slope, are three feet wide, while the crosspaths 

 at the ends of the beds are twelve inches wide. 



The earth in the beds is a rich, sandy loam, prepared by mixing one load of 

 ordinary forest soil with one of manure. This compost, until used, is piled just 

 outside the fence, where it is allowed to remain undisturbed for three years. 

 Three large heaps are necessarily kept on hand to furnish the proper annual 

 supply. 



The seed beds, eight in number, occupy only five per cent of the total area. 

 These beds have a framework of boards around their edges, eight inches high, 

 and are covered with wire screens of a small mesh, which are kept there until the 

 seeds have germinated to protect them from the depredation of birds. The seeds 

 are sown thickly and broadcast instead of in rows. 



If the supply of plants from the seed beds is insufficient to stock the area set 

 apart for transplants, the deficiency is made up by gathering two-year-old seedlings 

 from the adjacent forest. 



In 1903 the species growing in this nursery were: 



(1) Weisstanne, or silver fir, three and four years old. 



(2) Rottanne, or Norway spruce, four years old. 



(3) Sitka spruce {Abies sitchensis), three years old. 



(4) Forle, or Scotch pine, four years old. 



(5) Douglas spruce, four years old. 



