Student Notes on Silviculture – hand written by Alex Grossert
The pages are courtesy of Shona Marshall daughter of Alex Grossert who attended Glentress Forester Training School from Oct 1948 to Jul 1950.
The beautiful hand written notes by Alex Grossert gives readers of today a glimpse of the standard and practice of forestry in 1948 as taught to all the forestry students. The notes (well over 100 pages long) were copied into a hard cover ledger bought for the princely sum of 7/6 and there is a note that Alex was assigned to Hut No 5 at Glentress in 1948.
Alex’s notes on Silviculture include chapters headed: Locality, Climate, Soils and Situation, Light and Shade, Shape of the Root System, Shape of the Stem and Crown, Rate of Growth, Reproductive and Regenerative Power, Maturity and Longevity.
The extensive sections on nurseries are comprehensive and take us back to an era pre many chemicals. The details of establishing nurseries and their layouts, fencing and shelter contain a wealth of detail for example ‘If possible shelters (for workers) in nurseries should be within100 feet of every working point’. There are also full details on establishment of a heathland nursery with advice on testing soils for minerals and pH. The chapter headings include: Manuring; Farmyard and Organic Manure, Inorganic Manure; Purchase, Storage and Application of Manures, Composts, various Green Crops; Seed Collection and Storage various Species details, Cuttings, Preparation of Ground, Treatment of Seed and Sowing, Seed Bed shelters, Watering, Protection against Birds and Animals, Lifting of Seedlings, Hardwood Seedbeds, Lining out Methods and Organisation, Lifting Grading and Despatch of plants.
The notes then focus on new planting in a newly acquired area and goes into detail of mapping, sorting out acquisition boundaries, laying out compartments and some actual or potential road lines. Then there is the layout of fence lines and the specifications of material required depending on the various fence types. The detailed material list for an Iron post deer fence is perhaps a revelation for many but the work involved in drilling the stones to take the iron posts and stays is only lightly described. Following on from fencing is the all important preparation of the ground for planting – dealing with the surface vegetation and unwanted trees, wartime felled sites, seashore sites with sandy dunes plus extensive descriptions of draining and turfing of the wetter hill surfaces but no mention of ploughing!
Selecting species for planting in a variety of site types is well recorded as indeed how to actually plant the trees and best seasons for success. Beating up or replacement of dead trees is fully described as are the operations of weeding, cleaning and brashing. Lastly there are silvicultural notes on a number of tree species, the list incomplete as the notes tail off at Pinus contorta and no mention of Sitka spruce!
Please see the PDF link below to view the full document.
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