NATURAL REPRODUCTION OF FORESTS. 4] 
nature, the result will be as follows :—in a dry season young seed- 
lings will be apt to get scorched under the influence of too much 
sunlight, while, on the other hand, in wet seasons in strong 
tenacious soils, and under the influence of too much shade, cones 
and seeds of all trees are liable to rot, and plants germinating 
under such unfavourable conditions sicken and die from want of 
the necessary amount of sun-heat ; from which it is obvious that 
extremes in all cases are decidedly injurious. 
A word in regard to the selection and choice of seed. It is 
remarkable how little care at times is bestowed upon the selection 
of seed. It seems in reality to be only stating a truism that the 
labour of cultivation is utterly lost if bad seed is used. <A 
diseased or weak parent tree cannot produce strong progeny ; 
neither can an inferior seed produce a perfect tree. There is 
therefore the greater need to take every precaution, to insure that 
the produce of healthy trees only is allowed to ripen and disperse 
over the forest to raise a crop of trees; and hence the necessity 
for removing all sickly or deformed trees at the earliest possible 
date, to prevent them bearing cones, the seed from which is 
always inferior. Cones borne on vigorous and shapely trees, are 
certain to contain seed which will produce a healthy and vigorous 
progeny. 
Let us turn now to the natural reproduction of the Larch ; 
and allow me to impress upon all the necessity of displaying even 
greater caution in conducting the operations in connection with 
larch, than has been shown to be necessary in regard to Scots firs. 
During the process of renovation, all the thinnings should be 
conducted upon a limited scale, never omitting to leave an equal 
distribution of reserve canopy in every part of the wood. Iam 
inclined to believe that larch, between the ages of one and eight 
years, is rather a delicate plant, and although it requires a certain 
amount of sunlight, which is essential to its health, yet, between 
the ages indicated, too much sunlight is as injurious to it as too 
little. Im youth it comes early into leaf, and the growth is apt 
to be further advanced in the leading shoots than in the laterals ; 
hence the former is more subject to injury from spring frost. 
Any one can satisfy himself of this fact by examining the seed- 
beds and young plants in a nursery after a frosty night in early 
spring, when the leading shoots will be found checked in their 
growth, and unable to keep pace with the laterals, which, owing 
to their backward state of growth, have escaped injury. Some 
