120
AGRICULTURE OX THE RHINE.
their woods have for centuries been managed in a peculiar
manner, very well suited to the wants of miners, founders,
and steel-manufacturers. The chief source of wealth for
the country lies in the sparry iron ore which abounds
about Siegen. The system of foresting practised at
Siegen is founded upon the principle of obtaining the
greatest possible yield of wood suited for charcoal-burn-
ing, combined with the best crop of baɪk, an article
that latterly has very much improved in price. It is
well known that of late years the greatest production
both of charcoal and of bark for tanning has been as-
certained to be derived from young trees and branches,
and the forest system of Siegen turns both to the best
account.
The woods lie everywhere on the hills, which are
steep and often rise to the height of IOOO feet above the
Sieg, being intersected with narrow valleys and glens,
to which the Sieg serves as a drain. A large portion of
the wood-land between Altcnkirchen and Wissen belongs
to the crown, and on these tracts timber is more fre-
quently found than in the woods situated between Wissen
and Siegen, and which are the property of parishes, or of
companies formed by individuals. The system of culti-
vation adopted is a rotation of sixteen, eighteen, or twenty
years, the brushwood having at that age attained its best
size and strength for charcoal, and, when the stock is
oak, the bark yielding at those periods its greatest profit.
The woods of this last-named description form a curious
illustration of the spirit of association, which is a charac-
teristic trait in the German character, united with all the
peculiarities that spring from the kind of education which
the peasant works out for himself in the spirit of mistrust
AGRICULTURE OX THE RHINE.
Γ21
that we have before noticed. The origin of many of
these corporations, or rather joint-stock companies, that
own woods in the neighbourhood of Siegen, goes back
to remote periods. Money was furnished by the fore-
fathers of the present holders, or of those from whom
the present owners acquired the property, for the pur-
chase and planting of the land, and the shares are still
calculated in the name of the coin current at that early
period, but wdιich is now represented by a much higher
value. An albus of the sixteenth century is the usual
share, which then was worth one-eightieth of a dollar,
and is now represented by fifty to eighty dollars. In
every wood thus belonging to shareholders in common
there are good and bad situations. When the period
for felling arrives the wood is mathematically divided by
lines drawn, if possible, evenly through good and bad
sites. Sometimes, where there is a projecting angle, all
the lines run out to a point. Theportions are numbered,
and Iotsdccide the parties to WhiehtheyrespectiveIy fall.
The felling then takes place, but not by contract or by
persons employed for the purpose. Every peasant takes
his lot and cuts, barks, binds, and carries home what it
yields at his convenience. He is, however, bound to
take his share away before the peculiar cultivation re-
sorted to on the bared ground commences. The roots
of the trees are left standing in the ground to throw out
shoots, which, in Mventy years, are to replace the under-
wood of which it has been cleared. Between these the
surface of the soil is pared off a few inches deep, and the
sods are collected into heaps and burnt. The ashes are
strewed upon the ground and lightly ploughed with a