NATURAL REPRODUCTION OF FORESTS. 39 
diameter, at regular distances apart, and then loosen the soil with 
a tramp or shoulder pick, so that the seed may alight on the pre- 
pared portions of the soil as they drop from the trees or are blown 
down by the wind. This operation should be performed after all 
the cuttings. When the last cutting but one is to be made, which 
may vary as to time according to local circumstances and in pro- 
portion to the progress of regeneration, there ought to be a good 
sprinkling of seedlings interspersed here and there in groups all 
over the ground. At this thinning, standards must be selected at 
regular intervals as reserve trees, so as to ensure a more complete 
dispersion of seeds from the cones. The trees left as reserves 
should be in good health, with clean tall boles, and flat expanded 
heads, equally balanced all round, so as to distribute the seed as 
evenly as possible, and allow air and headroom for the young 
trees. In carrying out this operation much must be left to the 
discretion of the forester as to the different methods which may 
have to be applied according to circumstances. It would be 
tedious to enumerate all the details of the different plans in- 
volved in carrying out natural reproduction, indeed, I do not . 
shrink to maintain that it is impossible to do so, as the method 
of application which may prove quite a success in one place 
may be a complete failure in another, even within a radius of 
afew miles. This may occur from various causes, such as the 
nature of the soil, subsoil, altitude, exposure, and such like. All 
such operations must invariably be conducted and guided accord- 
ing to natural and local conditions. There is a proverb which 
says, ‘‘ the errors of a day may take years to rectify,”’—a truism 
reminding us that we should cherish prudence and circumspection 
in all our undertakings. 
When the final cutting of standards has to be performed, it will 
be judicious to begin the felling of the reserve trees from the 
reverse point of the previous fellings; performing all the other 
operations, such as loosening the soil, etc., as already described. 
If the prevailing wind is from the west, the final operation of 
felling will proceed from the east side. By this the action of the 
wind will go far in assisting the dissemination of the seed into 
the prepared soil. Great care must be taken in felling the 
timber among the younger crop of trees, as their heads at this 
stage will be furnished with a heavy canopy of foliage in propor- 
tion to the size of their stems. Consequently it will be necessary 
in most instances to lop all branches off the reserve trees before 
