ON THINNINGS IN PLANTED SPRUCE. 129 



XVI. On Thinnings in Planted Spriice. Abridged from an 

 article by M. Ch. Broilliard in the Revue des Eaux et 

 Forets for January 1902.^ 



Planted spruce, like the sons of Eve, are addicted to original 

 sin. In their case it lies in the equality of age and of spacing. 

 On the other hand, they have generally a single purpose to serve 

 in each case. It may be hop-poles, telegraph-poles, cellulose, 

 carpentry, sawyer's timber, or what not. They are sometimes 

 mixed with other fast-growing conifers, such as pines or larch. 

 These three orders of facts produce complications in thinning. 



In order to understand how natural spruce crops differ, it 

 would be well to know their origin and history. They start 

 from natural seeding, capricious in distribution, different in age, 

 variable in density, from one point to the next. How were they 

 produced? "Was it in open land void of pre-existing trees or 

 shrubs'? Were they always unmixed with broad-leaved species, 

 birches, or beech, or silver fir 1 M. Mathey is probably the first, 

 in his work on Le Pdturage en Foret, to point out some of the 

 accessories, alder, juniper, hazel, whitethorn, etc. Foresters whose 

 work lies in spruce can assist. Here are a few instances recalled 

 from the days when my work was in the mountains. 



One spring day, while resting in the shade of the forest of 

 Brey, on the edge of a mossy meadow sweeping down to the tail 

 of the lake of Remoray, I saw young seedlings of spruce coming 

 up all around in the open. Were there any left at the end of the 

 summer ? None seemed to have survived fi'om previous possible 

 seedlings. 



Another time, in the commune lands of Boujeons, grazed over 

 by cattle every year, I was struck by the appearance of some 

 bushy little spruces showing black against the sunny snow. Some 

 of them had sent up a shoot that might be considered safe from 

 cattle. Were not these the precursors of a forest ? 



Above the forest of Outriaz, or La Condamine, was a sheep 

 pasture, with the grass, as usual, bitten down to the ground, and 

 the gravel soil showing between the tufts. Spruce was establish- 

 ing itself by degrees under the protection of juniper bushes, in 

 spite of the daily access of the sheep. The action of each juniper 

 sheltering its one or more spruce of 6 inches or more in height, 



1 Reprinted from the Indian Forester. 

 VOL. XVII. PART I. I 



