ON PLANTING WASTE LAND FOR PROFIT. 191 



spruce require little or no thinning until they have passed their 

 twentieth year. Much depends, however, upon the nature of the 

 soil on which they have been planted, as well as the climatic 

 conditions which influence their annual growth, as these determine 

 the vigour and annual growth of the young trees. One plantation 

 may be benefited by thinning when it is only in its sixteenth year, 

 while another of the same kind may need no thinning before its 

 twentieth year, or even later. 



Scots pine being light-demanding, will require earlier and more 

 frequent thinning than spruce. 



Under no circumstances, however, should either species be 

 thinned until the "struggle for existence" is well begun, and until 

 a fair proportion of the side branches are dead and the stems have 

 begun to clean themselves naturally. From neither of these 

 species can a proprietor hope to derive any profit until after they 

 have reached their twentieth year. 



Larch, when grown as a pure crop, requires to be thinned 

 earlier than either Scots pine or spruce, because it needs more 

 air and light than do either of these other two trees. 



In an agricultural district where there is always a demand for 

 sheep-netting stakes, or for hop or other poles, young larch 

 thinnings of about sixteen years' growth will not only pay for the 

 cost of cutting, but will also leave a balance. 



Among Hardwoods, only ash and Scots elm can be expected to 

 yield any profit from the first thinning, which, in ordinary circum- 

 stances, will take place when the crop is from sixteen to eighteen 

 years old. Ash and Scots elm (as also birch among softwoods) 

 can in many places be sold profitably for making scavengers' 

 brooms and crates, and for stakes for horticultural purposes. 



In thinning any kind of wood, the trees to be specially protected 

 are those which are intended to form the mature crop ultimately. 

 British woodlands have suffered greatly in the past from pro- 

 prietors and foresters having been naturally desirous to procure 

 money from thinnings which have been undertaken to suit the 

 requirements of the time being. Thinnings have therefore often 

 been made heavily, without sufficient thought being paid to what 

 influence they might exercise on the future yield and value of 

 the crop. 



As a rule, and especially in young plantations, it is better to 

 thin lightly once every five or six years, than to make heavy 

 thinnings every eight to ten years. Until crops are approaching 



