DEMONSTRATION FORESTS FOR SCOTLAND. 2 1 



have no weight whatever, while even the financial yield should 

 be held strictly subordinate to the welfare of the growing stock, 

 and the enhancement of the quality of the locality. 



The size, quality, and kind of produce to be yielded of course 

 depend upon local exigencies of demand, and the meteorological 

 and physical conditions of the locality. It is of the first 

 importance to realise that the objects of management (previously 

 determined on often for a long period of years) can, under 

 ordinary circumstances, be realised with remarkable accuracy, 

 provided that the working-plan be drawn up in accordance 

 with the principles of scientific forestry, and the execution be 

 entrusted to a properly trained staff. 



As regards the shape of the trees composing the growing 

 stock of a high-forest, it may be laid down that, as a general 

 rule, the object to be aimed at should be the production of 

 tall, healthy trees, with well-developed crowns and clean cylindri- 

 cal boles, free from brafiches. Such trees, to the eye of the 

 trained forester, possess a charm and beauty all their own, 

 but would probably not appeal at all to the landscape arbori- 

 culturist, who would naturally prefer the area to be studded 

 with short-boled, branching silvan monarchs, of the " spreading 

 chestnut tree" type. Such specimens, magnificent as they are 

 from the artist's standpoint, are essentially the product of bad 

 forestry, as they present per acre the maximum of branches and 

 foliage, and the minimum of marketable timber. To obtain 

 clean-boled timber, the primary consideration is that of light. 

 Certain species of trees demand an exceptional degree of light, 

 and are termed " light-demanders." Others can bear consider- 

 able shade, and will thrive with a very slight modicum of light. 

 These are known as " shade-bearers." Between the two 

 extremes ranges every degree of " light-demand," and it is in 

 effectively playing upon this gamut of sensitiveness that one of 

 the main opportunities of the foresters' science consists. For 

 when a portion of a tree is deprived, by any cause, of the 

 quantity of light requisite for its full development, the members 

 so affected dwindle and become impoverished. The growing 

 energy of the tree is then immediately directed to the develop- 

 ment of the side and extremities to which the light has still 

 access. Consequently, it may be said to " seek " the light. It 

 follows that if the tree is practically surrounded by other trees of 

 an equal or less height, the only outlet available is towards the 



