108
AGKICUbTURE ON THE RHINE.
Iu cover with its branches an area of 346 square feet.
Λ tree of 120 years’ growth 65 feet in height covers 226
square feet ; one 90 years old spreads over 132 square
feet. The beauty of a tree of this kind consists in its
perfect soundness and vigour, and the finest specimens
are found in forests in Germany, where the trees afford
each other protection against the cold winds. Hardy as
the oak and fir appear when their growth is flourishing,
yet the dangers they encounter are various. A severe
winter often destroys whole acres of seedlings or of young
plants. The wind in an exposed situation may tear off a
branch, whose stump remaining jagged catches the rain,
and beginning to rot, the decay penetrates into the core.
Lastly, an orifice made in the bark by a small puncture
when the tree is young, lets in moisture at an advanced
age, and when the thaw sets in after the winter frost
the splitting of trees that have suffered in this manner
causes a report like that of a musket.
The effect of the sun upon trees that have grown in
the outskirts of a wood is described as very curious.
They are said to twist in the direction of the sun’s course,
and to be less compact and hard in grain than the rest.
Trees growing in a northern aspect are always preferred
for building uses.
Respecting the yield per acre of forest-land in Ger-
many, our readers are already aware that it is difficult to
obtain precise information. Not only do the estimates
of growth and of the periods at which trees can be felled
with the greatest advantage differ, but the prices arc so
various as to bid defiance to all attempts to find an
average value. In some parts scarcity of fuel raises the
value of small wood and clearings ; in others, the de
AGRICULTURE OX THE RHINE.
109
πιand for charcoal has a similar effect, people haι iɪɪg of
late years discovered that underwood and branches yield
the best charcoal. The Black Forest and the Spessart
being well situated with respect to water communication,
the larger trees are bought for exportation, and the
largest fir and pine trunks are called “ Hollander” when
felled, from their destination to be floated down the Rhine
to Holland. In the manufacturing districts of the Lower
Rhine, on the other hand, the demand for oak timber for
the construction of machinery is very great, and high
prices are paid for it.
An undefined notion of the cheapness of timber in
Germany has long prevailed in England. We shall see
that the Rhenish districts do not participate in this ad-
vantage. A rapid rise has everywhere been experienced
in the price of wood, that is acknowledged to operate
unfavourably on the general prosperity of the Rhenish
states. Details that can be relied upon have only been
published for the Grand Duchy of Baden ; but these will
suffice to show the relative increase in the price of timber
and fire-wood when compared with other agricultural
products. Within the last ten years the price, according
to recent statements, has advanced from 30 to 40 per
cent. The average price for one cubic foot in the forests
of Baden was in
Timber
Fire-wood
|
1833 |
1838 |
1843 | |
|
Oak . |
. 17 |
23∙G |
2i∙e |
|
Fir |
. 10 |
13∙5 |
12∙5 |
|
Oak . |
. 12∙6 |
16∙7 |
16∙7 |
|
Beech |
. 9∙6 |
13∙1 |
12'7 |
|
Fir |
. 7∙4 |
10∙7 |
10 |
Ihrce kreutzers make exactly one English penny: the
present price of choice oak timber, in stems of 65 to 70