THE AFFORESTATION OF LARGE AREAS IN THE HIGHLANDS. 329 
very little will require to be done to the plantation for the first 
eight or ten years of its growth. The first thing necessary is to 
make good all deaths from whatever cause. This is more cheaply 
and effectually done two or three years after planting, because the 
blanks are then better seen. The next important point is to keep 
in repair fences and watercourses, artificial and natural, and this 
should continue till the plantation is at least twenty-five or thirty 
years old. 
At eight to ten years of age those portions of the plantation that 
are on the lower ground, in good soil, and otherwise under favour- 
able conditions, will require some thinning, or side pruning, as the 
case may be, the latter often being the more suitable. It need 
hardly be stated that the age of a plantation is no guide as to the 
proper time to thin, for much depends on the distance apart at 
which the plants were originally set, and the variety of plants, soils, 
and situations. Thinning should be done when the branches are 
beginning to interlace, and to such an extent as will allow a due 
amount of light and air to penetrate to all parts of the remaining 
plants. The least promising plants of every variety should be 
removed, even if those left should stand irregularly, for that can be 
rectified later on. When the intervening spaces are again closed 
up with growth, it is time to set about another thinning, and so on, 
till the final thinning takes place forty years or more afterwards. 
Hardwood plants are the better of being carefully trimmed during 
the first twenty years, with the pruning-knife, Prune so as to 
give the plants such form as may be desired. 
With regard to plants that may have been raised from seed, they 
will require earlier attention to thinning than the planted trees. 
This is quite natural, because under ordinary circumstances, in five 
or six years there will be quite a thicket of plants, on account of 
the way the seed was sown. The weakest plants should be pulled 
out by the hand, except in the case of birch seedlings, which should 
be cut close over, and put up into small bundles of about 20 inches 
in girth. These are valuable for besoms, and are much sought 
after for that purpose by the cleansing committees of large towns. 
On this account birch seeding is the most profitable, because, if 
properly done, it will begin to pay well about its seventh year, and 
will repay all costs and interest before it is twelve years old, besides 
leaving a heavy crop on the ground to be dealt with after that age. 
Before it is twenty years old half the crop may be removed for 
making bobbins. 
