i;6 



Forestry in Germany. 



[JUNE, 



The results of the inquiry which was held into the area and 

 production of forests in Germany in 1900 have been briefly 

 referred to in this Journal (Vol. IX., p. 244, 

 Forestry in y Q j yj p ~g,\ anc j j n connection with the 

 Germany. . , 5 F 0 ; h . 



particulars therein given, some extracts 



from an article by Dr. Yentsch in the German official 

 catalogue of the St. Louis Exhibition may be of interest. The 

 variety of trees in Germany is, it is observed, not large, and 

 among the numerous indigenous kinds which formerly existed 

 only those have been preserved which possess a high economic 

 value, chiefly oak and beech, among the hardwood trees. Trees 

 are grown for bark in the tall timber woods and plantations 

 on the lower Rhine and in Westphalia ; their cultivation is, 

 however, declining, both because the ground suitable for them 

 is being devoted more and more to agriculture, and also on 

 account of the low prices for tanning-bark, but they are still 

 grown abundantly in mixed woods along with fir and beech 

 trees, chiefly in West and South Germany. The beech, formerly 

 much grown for fuel, has, with the spread of coal-mining, almost 

 entirely lost its importance, and is more and more displaced 

 by the better paying conifer. It is most widespread in West 

 Germany and in the chalk-ground of the South German 

 mountains, and is, moreover, abundantly represented in the 

 north, especially on the shores of the Baltic from Schleswig- 

 Holstein to Pomerania. Where it is cultivated on account of 

 its good forest qualities, oak, maple, and ash, as well as conifers, 

 are grown along with it, and in many places also horn-beam, 

 elm and such soft woods as aspen, poplar, and occasionally lime. 

 The unpretending birch is seen everywhere, while the alder is 

 cultivated as underwood in damp low ground. The total area 

 covered by foliage trees amounts to 1 1 * 1 million acres, or 

 32*5 per cent, of the whole forest area, 67*5 per cent, or 

 23*5 million acres being covered with conifers. The most 

 important species of the latter are the fir and pine, and in 

 South- West Germany the pitch-pine, mixed with larch. The fir 

 (Pinus sylvestris, L.) 3 the chief species of wood in the sandy 

 plain, covers 13*8 million acres. It thrives best in the dry 

 districts of North-East Germany (the East Prussian fir being 

 highly valued), but it flourishes also in those districts which 

 have a considerable rainfall, z>., in the West and on the plateaux 



