FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 225 



As usual, in Northern Germany, spruce is cultivated almost exclusively, or to a 

 large extent. Seed, coated with lead-oxide, is thickly sown in the germinating beds 

 about the middle of May, in rows four and one half inches apart. Brush is not laid 

 on the beds, as this is considered unnecessary except as a protection from birds; 

 but moss is used to protect the seedlings during the winter. The latter is placed 

 on the beds in October and is not removed in the spring until the snow has melted. 



Seedlings are usually left in the beds two years — or one year if very strong 

 and thrifty — and are then transplanted in rows six inches apart, where they remain 

 two years; but if the field where they are to be set out finally is covered with 

 grass the plants are given one year more in the nursery beds. 



The Forest of Grabow, in Mecklenburg, belongs to the city. It has an area 

 of 6,470 acres A forester (stadtfb'rster) manages it; a hunter (stadtyager) protects 

 the game, and an overseer (forstaufseher) guards it against fire and trespass. The 

 overseers are not technically educated men, but are chosen from the ranks of 

 the workmen. The revenues are paid into the city treasury, after which the net 

 income is applied to the reduction of taxes. This custom is common in most 

 of the city and communal forests in Germany. 



As the soil in the vicinity of Grabow is sandy, its forests consist almost 

 entirely of Scotch pine {Pinus sylvestris), a small area only being planted with 

 spruce (Picea excelsa) and silver fir {Abies pectinata). The broad-leaved trees also 

 occupy a small area, where the fertility of the soil may indicate their use. But 

 the soil is very poor, to a great extent consisting of a light colored sand which, 

 even when damp, will not cohere if squeezed in the hand. 



The nursery is located at an altitude of 335 feet. In summer the temperature 

 rises as high as thirty-two degrees (Reaumur) in the sun, and twenty-four degrees 

 in the shade; in winter it falls as low as twenty degrees below zero, same 

 standard. The winters, however, are mild. The first frost occurs about the 

 middle of November, and freezing weather is liable to last until the middle of 

 . April, with an occasional frost in May. 



The seed for the nursery is generally purchased from commercial dealers, 

 mostly from a seed house in Darmstadt. The seed beds require a large amount 

 of mineral fertilizers, owing to the barrenness of the natural soil. For this pur- 

 pose the forester uses Thomas meal, sixteen per cent citrates, in quantities 

 of 880 pounds per hectare' (2*4 acres); carnallite, about 2,200 pounds per hectare, 

 and slaked lime, 6,600 pounds per hectare. These compounds are mixed with fine 

 turf, scattered thickly over the ground in winter and in the following spring are 

 worked thoroughly into the soil. The turf is also strewn between the seedlings 

 in the second summer of their growth. 



