FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 21 7 



Alsace. 



The Oberfdrsterei Miinster, in the German Yosges, has an area of 21,325 acres, 

 of which one half, or thereabouts, is occupied by silver fir;* the remainder by 

 Norway spruce, Scotch pine (1,500 acres), beech (mixed with maple), elm and 

 carpinus (5,000 acres), oak (1,150 acres), chestnut (180 acres) and locust. 



The total nursery area for the tract is four acres, which furnish an average 

 annual output of 160,000 coniferous plants. This nursery area is in several small 

 plots distributed conveniently throughout the tract. One of these, located about 

 five miles from Metzeral, has an area of five ares (5,380 square feet). It is in the 

 forest and is closely surrounded by trees. A wire fence of four strands, with a 

 round top-rail of poles, protects it from deer. The exposure is towards the west. 

 It has a slope of one foot in eight, terraced with retaining walls of stone three 

 feet high. 



The soil is from gneiss, with some lime in its composition. Thomasmehl and 

 kainit are used as fertilizers;! but as kainit is strong and liable to injure the plants 



* The silver fir {Abies pectinata) of Southern Europe resembles the American balsam closely 

 in its foliage and in many other respects ; but it is much larger and taller and has a better fiber. 



f Thomasmehl, or Thomaschlacke (Thomas slag), is a slag or scoria produced in the "Thomas- 

 Gilchrist" process for manufacturing steel, and is obtained as a by-product from certain rich 

 phosphatic iron ore. In this process the phosphorus of the crude iron is converted into phosphoric 

 acid, which passes into the slag in combination with lime and iron. This slag is ground finely 

 and sold as fertilizer. It contains from thirty to forty per cent phosphate of lime, the greatest part 

 of which appears to be in an available condition, so that the slag, when ground or pulverized, 

 may be used on the soil as a source of phosphoric acid without further treatment. 



It is a new form of phosphate to which attention has already been attracted throughout Europe, 

 and which has been tried experimentally to some extent in this country. From extensive trials of 

 it at experiment stations it seems that all such slags have not an equal value, some being much 

 more available to the plants than others. The better classes of slag have, however, given better 

 results than bone meal, and have been sold at so low a rate the foresters can use it profitably. 

 This slag meal is now manufactured at Pottstown, Pa., and is put on the market under the name 

 of "odorless phosphate." 



Kainit, or Kalidungung, is a product of some salt mines, notably the mines at Stassfurt, 

 Germany. It is a mixture of compounds containing about twenty-five per cent sulphate of potash, 

 equivalent to twelve per cent of actual potash, together with about thirty-five per cent of common 

 salt, some sulphate and chloride of magnesia, and a small amount of gypsum. Large amounts are 

 annually exported to America, one year as high as 87,635 tons. 



Kainit, sprinkled on manure, tends to the checking of fermentation ; also, to attract and hold 

 moisture. One precaution should be observed in the use of this fertilizer ; animals should be 

 kept away from it, as their feet may be injured by treading in it. It is better, therefore, to apply 

 it mixed with fresh manure, and to cover the ground afterwards with some kind of litter. [See 

 bulletins on "Commercial Fertilizers," issued by the Departments of Agriculture in various 

 States. For further definitions of Thomasmehl and Kainit, see Illustriertes Forst und Jagd 

 Lexikon, by Dr. Hermann von Furst. Berlin: Paul Parey. 1904.] 



