THE NATURAL REGENERATION OF WOODS. 63 
V. The Natural Regeneration of Woods. By W1LLtAM SOMERVILLE 
of Cormiston, D.dic., B.Sc., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Forestry, 
Edinburgh University. 
If the rearing of a young wood, by means of self-sown seed, 
upon the same ground as that previously occupied by an older 
generation of trees, is to be successfully accomplished, an amount 
of skill is demanded of the forester which can only be derived 
from careful training, long practice, and an intimate knowledge 
of the requirements of the trees placed under his charge. The 
difficulties are increased by the fact that generally a long series 
of years must elapse from the initial stages of the process till the 
regeneration is accomplished, so that, as frequently happens, the work 
is not directed in all its stages by the same hand, and unless each 
successive step be made at the right time and in the right way, 
total or at best partial failure must be the result of even the 
most auspicious beginning. 
In countries where State forests bulk largely in the wooded 
area, and where consequently ample provision is made for the 
training of foresters in the science and practice of their profession, 
no difficulty is experienced in bringing to a successful issue 
any sylvicultural system which may be inaugurated. As the 
men who have guided the work are one by one removed, their 
places are taken by those who have received their training in 
the same rigorous school as that in which they themselves were 
educated, and who are therefore fully qualified to carry forward 
the work, long since begun, on the lines which experience has 
shown will ultimately lead to the greatest success, 
The impediments which obstruct the path to the successful 
formation of woods by means of self-sown seed are so great, and 
the advantages and convenience of stocking the ground by 
artificial means, are in most cases so apparent, that in all parts of 
the world, whenever forests have been brought under scientific 
sylvicultural treatment, the cases where natural systems of 
renewal are held to offer greater advantages than artificial systems 
gradually diminish, till finally they form but a small proportion 
of the whole. Still it is highly improbable that artificial planting 
and sowing will ever in all places and under all circumstances 
completely displace natural sowing, so that it is not too late to 
