Thiiuiuio- and Prunine' Forest Trees. 



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forester's guide in proportioninp: the breadth of dense belt to the size 

 of the pLantation. By tlie exclusion of violent winds the fallen leaves 

 are not drifted, but decay in situ, and thus keep up an even fertility 

 of the soil. 



Thinnings should never be so severe as to expose long poles, clothed 

 only with a tuft of branches at the top, to the violence of the wind. 

 Even wlien such standards, after being bent to the ground, are placed 

 erect again by a lightening of the top, they seldom produce anything 

 but an ill-shapen tree. If the length of the bole be greatly dispro- 

 portioned to its size and strength, the exposure of such a tree is 

 generally fatal to the attainment of well-formed timber. Carefully 

 executed thinnings, by preserving the leaf canopy, and thereby ex- 

 cluding intense sunlight, tend to favour the preparation of the ground 

 for the seedling crop, so essential in the cultivation of high forest. 



Thinnings, like prunings, can be best arranged, if not actually 

 carried out, during the summer : the weight of foliage then indicates 

 more accurately when mischief is being wrought. Judicious thinnings 

 favour the production of seed; but when it is intended to have a 

 good crop of seedlings in the spring, most of the scrub must be 

 removed, so as to admit heat, without which the seed decays before 

 germinating. 



Pruning requires to be executed with great care, and with no small 

 amount of judgment. Trees in their natural habitat, and under 

 favourable circumstances, develop a handsome head and fair propor- 

 tions, with little aid from man. A system of natural pruning, by 

 winch the upper branches slowly and almost imperceptibly destroy the 

 lower ones by the exclusion of light, is constantly going on, though 

 the result of this is often unsoundness of stem. "When the object in 

 view is the production of sound, clean, straight-grown timber, a timely 

 })runing of the lower branches must be made. A greater length of 

 bole, and consequently a much larger yield of valuable timber from a 

 given space, will be the result. By increasing the height of trees and 

 the length of stem, the effects of shade are considerably lessened, and 

 a much larger and stronger crop of seedlings may be expected. In 

 continental forests, as well as in those of India, where a system oi 

 natural reproduction is carried out, great attention is paid to both 

 thinning and pruning, and an even and luxuriant crop of seedlings is 

 the result. 



Where a full canopy of foliage is preserved in thin plantations, but 

 little side pruning of the standards will be required; but where such 

 a clearance is effected as to admit abundant light and the full force of 

 the sun to the boles of the remaining trees, the dormant buds will 

 soon develop into epidermic or trunk branches, and [)ruuiiig will bo- 

 come necesoary. Every carerul observer of growing timljcr will 



