46 NATURAL REPRODUCTION OF FORESTS. 
process of regeneration. It is therefore utterly impossible to 
carry out the reproduction of woods with creditable success where 
vermin are allowed to accumulate in large numbers, without taking 
the necessary precaution to enclose the area with adequate fencing. 
The destruction of young forest trees by ground game and vermin 
entails a serious loss to the proprietor, and is a source of great 
trouble and disappointment to all concerned; therefore every 
means should be taken to exclude them from young woods from 
the very beginning. 
Let me now draw attention to several errors in the management 
of woods which at times are apt to be overlooked, although of 
great importance. If woods are allowed to become too open from 
any cause—say overthinning—they become defective from want 
of shade, and the moisture accumulated during the winter is dried 
up in the early summer before the growing season is over. We 
must not forget that water is a very important element to vege- 
tation. Trees will live in almost any soil,—though they may not 
attain to any great value,—so long as it is moist enough and of 
sufficient depth to retain moisture. In order, therefore, to econo- 
mise the moisture of winter, so that it may last through the 
period of active growth in summer, it is necessary to have the 
ground in the plantations sufficiently shaded from the action of the 
sun’s rays, more especially in dry situations. It is quite common 
to see trees in woods of a branchy, straggling habit of growth, 
while the ground between them is covered with a thick coating 
of grass and weeds, usually indicating that the woods have 
been overthinned, or have been mismanaged or neglected in some 
way. Nothing betrays this more plainly than to see trees de- 
veloping vigorous laterals, which are a sure sign of the presence 
of too much sunlight, and shows that the canopy of foliage is not 
dense enough. This applies more especially to evergreen trees of 
the pine family, the larch excepted, which delights in sunshine. 
Again, we often meet with hardwoods growing in places where 
pines only should be planted ; and on sites suitable for hardwoods 
we too often find a crop of miserable pines, showing that the 
planter was ignorant of the nature and habits of the trees he was 
dealing with. Hardwoods are in no way suitable for planting 
upon exposed sites, nor at high altitudes, and can only be grown 
to advantage in moderately low-sheltered situations. Conifers, 
however, are peculiarly well adapted for growing at high eleva- 
tions and in exposed situations. 
