112 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



thinnings and treatment appropriate to Q. Robur under similar 

 conditions. 



The above seems to me the procedure suitable in thinning our 

 two oaks under various conditions. We shall thus realise the 

 desirable ends set forth seventy-five years ago [Revue of 1st 

 December 1898) by MM. Mallot and Le Grix, naval constructors. 

 In many cases it is done already, and though our ships are now 

 built of iron, our oaks are not less in demand, for the price is 

 greater than ever, notwithstanding the general fall in prices. 



The reader who has survived up to this point can now under- 

 stand my views of the way thinnings should be made, my style, 

 in short, which I am far from alleging to be ne plus ultra ; there 

 are too many things we do not know. In any case, he will have 

 seen that a thinning is not a simple operation, and that it varies 

 exceedingly between the spruce growing pure, which can dispense 

 with it, and the meadow-land pedunculate oak, whose crown, by 

 spreading freely, gives to the annual rings ample thickness, 

 strength, and quality. From one point to the next, at each 

 individual tree, so to say, the thinning introduces different con- 

 ditions. Satisfactory work can only be done by never losing 

 sight of the guiding idea, and by having a close acquaintance 

 with the life and behaviour of each species, pure and mixed, in 

 every possible way. Such skill is only acquired by those who 

 live in and with the forest. It is infinitely easier, safer, and in 

 every way more satisfactory, to show the operation in situ in the 

 forest than to explain it on paper. What the eye sees the mind 

 may understand, but mere reading leaves but vague ideas, for no 

 complete idea can be given of the extent of thinning. On the 

 ground, it is the application of the main idea to individual cases 

 that enlightens. It is the same with pruning fruit-trees ; in fact 

 with all questions of art. See it done, then read as much as 

 you like; such is the only safe road to skill. It is, therefore, 

 not without some apprehension of danger that this article is 

 published. 



Thinning is not only a delicate operation. However you 

 attack a growing crop, it is dangerous. The blighting of the 

 whole crop, and the degradation of the select stems, has to be 

 guarded against in different measures, according to the soil and 

 species, and these vary infinitely — particularly in mixed forests. 

 Therefore, I have previously stated (Revue of 10th June 1896) 

 that there is no definite formula for a thinning, there is no process 



