33 



bean production are also consequently minimized and it is dif- 

 ficult for stock to pick up the beans after they have fallen to the 

 ground. 



In order to develop and increase the production of blossoms 

 and beans on algaroba trees, to increase the growth of wood, and 

 to clear up the debris on the ground so that the fallen beans may 

 be readily picked up by the stock or by bean gatherers, it is nec- 

 essary to thin out such forests artificially by human effort. Such 

 a thinning results in releasing the crowns of the healthiest and 

 the best formed trees and in removing the suppressed and badly- 

 formed trees which would never produce great yields, either of 

 blossoms, beans, or wood. 



The object of making thinnings in algaroba forests, therefore, 

 is to improve the remaining stand by securing a space of desir- 

 able trees to be left which will promote individual tree develop- 

 ment and the greater production of flowers and beans, as well as 

 to clear up the brush so that the beans may be readily gathered. 



The usual plan followed is to select the trees which are to be 

 left and mark them by a distinguishing blaze. Such trees are 

 under no circumstances to be cut, but all the remaining trees over 

 three inches in diameter at breast height are removed. 



The trees to be marked for cutting are the most substantial, the 

 straight, well-formed, and the healthiest trees, and they are se- 

 lected so that they will not be closer than 20 feet or more dis- 

 tant apart than 30 feet and as evenly distributed over the area 

 as possible. It is best to mark the trees to be left just in ad- 

 vance of the thinniftg operations, so that possible mistakes in the 

 marking may be detected and corrected in the next marking of 

 trees to be left. 



The trees to be removed in the thinning are cut as close to the 

 ground as possible in order to avoid waste, and except in the 

 case of very large trees, no stumps should be cut higher than 

 4 inches above the ground. 



All brush resulting from the cutting, including the tops and 

 small limbs, must be burned at once while still green, in small 

 piles, so that the trees which are left will not in any manner be 

 scorched or injured by the burning. It is advisable to burn the 

 brush on the stumps where possible in order to prevent sprouting, 

 otherwise the area would grow up within a few years into a 

 tangled thicket of sprouts. No brush pile should be higher than 

 4 feet, and each pile should be located as far away as possible 

 from all trees that are to be left. By burning the green tops 

 over a small fire of hot coals, must less heat is generated than if 

 tops and brush were allowed to dry before being fired. 



Adaptations of this general method of thinning algaroba for- 

 ests will have to be made as variations in the character of stands 

 are encountered, but by following some such systematic method 

 not only will the yields of an algaroba forest be increased, but 

 the production of wood, beans, and honey from the blossoms will 

 be made permanent and true forestry will then be practiced. 



