INAUGURAL LECTURE IX THE COURSE OF FORESTRY. 413 



fully appreciated ou the Continent, where nothing in the whole 

 management of forests is more insisted upon than the preserva- 

 tion of an unbroken umbrageous covering. In the middle period 

 of the life of a forest this is not difficult to accomplish, but in the 

 earlier period, as well as in the later period after extensive thinning 

 has taken place, the ground can only be completely and, at the 

 same time, profitably shaded by the process of natural regeneration. 

 Professor Marshall \Yard, in a recently published work,^ mentions 

 a case which came under his observation two years ago. In the 

 district of Freising, in Bavai'ia, there is a larch plantation about 

 seventy years old. Twenty years ago the trees were showing 

 unmistakable signs of lack of vigour, — that is to say, they were 

 making little growth, and were assuming a stunted appearance. 

 Now, as is well known, the larch has a compai'atively small mass 

 of foliage, and therefore cannot shade the ground to the same 

 degree as many other trees. In the plantation in question the 

 plan was adopted of stocking the ground with young beeches, and 

 this succeeded so well, that now all signs of premature ripeness in 

 the trees have passed away, and a new lease of life seems to have 

 been granted to the plantation. 



Scarcely less important than the shading of the ground is the 

 shading of the lower parts of the stems or boles of the trees, for, 

 by this means, the undue formation of the inferior wood first 

 produced in a growing season is prevented. By the ordinary 

 methods of cultivation adopted in this country the young trees 

 pass the first ten or fifteen years of their life in a semi-isolated 

 condition, — that is to say, a considerable number of years is 

 necessary to enable the young trees to close in on each other. 

 During this time the influence of the sun on the lower parts of 

 the stems and on the roots makes itself felt much sooner in each 

 season of growth than would be the case were the stocking 

 thicker, and a dense forest or plantation earlier obtained. Owing 

 to this an abnormal development of the so-called " spring-zone " 

 in the annual wood-rings is brought about, and consequently the 

 average specific gravity and quality of the resulting timber are 

 much lowered. In addition to this, the trees do not possess such 

 straight stems, the wood contains a much larger number of knots, 

 especially those most undesirable ones known as "loose knots," 

 and the annual wood-rings are much broader towards the centre 

 than towards the periphery of the stem, which latter condition, 



^ Timber and some of its Diseases, p. 35. 



