191 1.] The Use of Manures in Forestry. 



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principally to Germany, while the straw, 16 to 24 cwt. per 

 acre, is used as cattle foader or litter. 



Caraway is an excellent crop in many respects. Harvesting 

 takes place early, so that the stubble can be repeatedly 

 ploughed and harrowed, and thus prepared for the next crop. 

 After the caraway harvest, vetches are grown with success 

 for the purpose of enriching the soil with nitrogen, and in 

 some districts, e.g., in West Friesland, various kinds of cattle 

 fodder are grown. Prices, however, fluctuate greatly, and 

 are sometimes very low, while in some years the caraway 

 caterpillar does much damage. On this account caraway 

 should not be grown on too large a scale. The price of the 

 seed in 19 10 was about 24s. per cwt., but afterwards fell to 

 about 2 is. 6d. per cwt. 



At the Sixth International Forestry Congress at Brussels 

 a paper was presented by Dr. Schwappach, Professor of 



Forestry at Eberswalde, dealing with 

 The Use of Manures the manuring of forest trees, a question 

 in Forestry. to which some attention has been 



devoted in Germany during recent 

 years. Dr. Schwappach observed that manuring had not the 

 same importance in forestry as in agriculture. The 

 relatively small amount of mineral salts retained in timber, 

 the long period of time which intervenes between the 

 planting and the felling of a forest, the fact that trees 

 during their growth give back to the soil the greater 

 part of their mineral constituents by the fall of leaves and 

 twigs, and, lastly, the decomposition of the soil which is 

 constantly going on, all render unnecessary the replacement 

 of mineral salts by artificial means. The old Continental 

 forest soils, moreover, are usually sufficiently rich in mineral 

 salts, and do not suffer from exhaustion under the present-day 

 systems. In addition, artificial manuring causes a rise of 50 

 to 100 per cent, in the cost of planting, for which no return 

 can in any case be obtained until the end of the rotation. 



It is now twenty years since experiments in manuring were 

 begun, first in Belgium and Holland, and afterwards in 

 Germany. The results up to the present tend to show that 



