REPORT ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF PLANTATIONS. 247 



So long as the trees were small, and could be cut and felled 

 by one man in the proper place, axe work was certainly, if not 

 the cheapest, at least the best method of thinning. But from the 

 time the trees are 9 inches diameter at bottom, they are more 

 economically cut by means of the saw. 



The mode of thinning mixed hardwood plantations is always 

 attended with greater difficulties than that of thinning plantations 

 of one sort of trees, hence the great expense always entailed in 

 doing so, and, consequently, the small returns. In thinning out 

 a larch tree, for example, growing in the midst of hardwoods, 

 where an open fall cannot be obtained, it is necessary to ascend 

 the tree, either by means of a light ladder or otherwise, and the 

 operator being provided with a hand-saw, to commence as he 

 ascends, and clear the tree of all such branches as are likely to 

 come in contact when falling with the standing trees. Frequently 

 the whole of the branches, and sometimes also the top part of the 

 tree, have to be cut off in this manner ; and the trunk thus pol- 

 larded, is by means of a rope attached drawn down into the most 

 convenient open space. It frequently happens that a tree thus 

 situated and taken clown, costs considerably more than its worth 

 in the market. Such was found to be the case in thinning this 

 plantation. The cost of labour was frequently more than double 

 the value of the thinnings ; and never, in any instance during 

 the writer's experience, has the produce of those thinnings 

 equalled, or even approached, the cost of the labour. 



Before commencing the process of thinning, the trees have 

 always been marked by the head forester, so that the best skill 

 was brought to bear upon the operations of thinning, and the work 

 performed in the most judicious and superior manner. At first 

 the thinning was performed at all seasons, but of late years it has 

 been principally done during the summer, at which season the 

 bark is stripped from the oak and larch. The chief difficulty of 

 thinning at this season is owing to the tenderness of the young- 

 shoots, particularly of those upon the pines and firs. Spruce 

 are so tender and easily injured at this period of the year, that a 

 considerable shake of the tree is quite sufficient to break off the 

 leading top, and so disfigure the tree ever afterwards. 



In consequence of no definite or separate account having been 

 kept of the expenses or returns from this plantation alone, it is 

 impossible to give an exact statement of such ; but from notes 

 taken during several thinnings, the labour exceeded the value by 

 about 25 per cent. This arose partly from the difficulty of fell- 

 ing the firs and pines amongst the hardwoods, so as not to injure 

 the latter, partly from the work having been done at day- wages 

 instead of by the piece, and partly from the difficulty of clearing 

 the ground of the wood and branches, which had to be removed 

 at great expense, and for which no market could be found. Add 



