i9io.] 



Reclamation of Moorland. 



205 



bottoms are planted with oak, ash, and so on, while the sides 

 are stocked with suitable conifers, and owing to rapid 

 changes of soil it is often impossible to plant a single species 

 over greater extents than half an acre. 



The charge of is. qd. per acre for roads is also a noticeable 

 item. On the same scale an estate of 2,000 acres of woodland 

 should be prepared to spend over ^"130 per year in main- 

 taining, re-grading, and metalling its roads, and in laying 

 out fresh lines of communication. 



Attention may also be directed to the average prices 

 obtained for timber. The highest average price is 7* id. in 

 Baden, and the lowest 5'8<i. in Hesse, while firewood brings 

 roughly from 2d. to 3d. per cubic foot. These prices are 

 probably not as high as the average for English timber, 

 although the quality is better. 



The reason that German State forests yield from 11s. to 315. 

 per acre net is to be attributed not to superior soil and climatic 

 conditions, but to the fact that timber-growing is a scientific 

 undertaking, in which careful attention to detail meets with 

 the same success that it does in any other business. 



The extensive areas of moor and heath lands which exist 

 in many parts of the Continent have naturally caused more 

 attention to be devoted to the subject 

 Reclamation of °^ tne ^ r reclamation than has been the 

 Moorland on the case in this country, and, owing in 

 Continent.* part to the fact that much of this moor- 



land was State property, the Govern- 

 ments of several countries, particularly Prussia, Bavaria, 

 Austria, Sweden, and Denmark, have taken active steps to 

 encourage experimental and scientific work with a view to 

 ascertain the best means of increasing the value of this land 

 for agricultural purposes. 



Prussia, — In Germany f the movement may be said to date 

 from 1862, when Herr Rimpau introduced his system of cul- 

 tivating peat land by the use of a surface covering of sand. 

 The extraordinary success which he obtained directed general 



* Some information as to the methods of reclamation adopted will be found in a 

 . previous article, " Utilisation of Peat Land on the Continent, "Journal, June, 1907, 

 p. 148, and in Leaflet No. 203. 



1 f See Die Entwkkelung der Moorfodtur, Berlin, 1908. 



