70 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
liminary stage, as should also all growth of the nature of brush 
or underwood, e.g., sloes, aspen, bird-cherry, willows, ete. These 
frequently prove a serious annoyance in natural regeneration, 
because, when cut over, they reproduce themselves by means of 
stool or root shoots, which, growing with great vigour, are apt to 
choke out the slower growing seedlings. 
When as much thinning has been done as is considered safe, 
attention must be directed towards discovering the first signs of an 
approaching seed year. In the case of the Scots pine, and the 
genus Pinus generally, where two years elapse between the time of 
flowering and the ripening of the seed, one always receives sufficient 
intimation that the production of a full crop of seed is near at 
hand. In the case of most of the other important trees, however, 
no such long intimation is given, for they ripen their seeds in the 
same year as that in which they produce the flowers. However, if 
one is watchful, a year’s warning at least can usually be obtained, 
for, on account of their larger size, and in other ways, the flower- 
buds can be distinguished from ordinary leaf-buds in autumn, or, 
at any rate, in the course of the winter and spring. In the case 
of some trees, large quantities of seed are produced every two to 
three years, whereas many trees do not bear oftener than once in 
eight to ten years. Where we have to deal with a species of the 
latter class, ¢.g., the beech, we must be specially careful not to let 
the opportunity slip of availing ourselves of a seed year; but, at 
the same time, the work of preparation must not be completed too 
long in advance, for unfavourable weather may intervene during 
the time of flowering, or in the succeeding summer before the fruit 
has ripened, which may cause the yield of seed to be very dis- 
appointing. Where the wood is of moderate dimensions it is best 
to wait till autumn before completing the advance fellings and 
final preparation of the surface, but where large areas have to be 
regenerated it is scarcely possible to delay beyond midsummer. 
In either case, however, if a large production of seed be regarded 
as tolerably certain, the wood must be brought into that state in 
which it will be most favourable for the reception and germination 
of the seed, and for the development and protection of the young 
plants. At this time the heaviest trees must be felled and 
removed, partly to provide the future young trees with light as 
well as to facilitate the entrance of rain and formation of dew, and 
partly because the removal of specially heavy trees after the young 
seedlings occupy the ground would be sure to damage them exces- 
