THE LAYING-OUT OF A MIXED PLANTATION. 43 
being overdrawn and weakened. All rubbish and small 
suppressed trees which have been overtopped should be taken 
out. The hardwood rows should be gone along, and all oak, 
beech, etc., relieved from over-pressure of larch, spruce, etc., 
by cutting these back with a sharp knife. All double-leaders 
and strong side-branches should be cut off, so as to encourage 
the oak to grow up with a straight single stem. This thinning 
and pruning is quite sufficient to carry the plantation on for 
another five years or so, till the plants are about 20 feet in height. 
Then the first heavy thinning of the larch is made. This 
consists in taking out all the larches in the oak rows, leaving the 
oaks entirely alone. Most of the larch trees on either side are 
also taken out. The ash and larch rows should also be thinned, 
leaving altogether about a thousand trees per acre. 
With shade-bearers, such as spruce, beech, silver fir, and fast- 
growing trees like the Corsican pine and Douglas fir, the thinning 
of the larch should be confined to suppressed and dead trees, as 
the former will suffer no injury from being in the shade, and the 
other will soon overtop and crush out the larch. These thinnings 
are quite sufficient to carry the plantation on to the twenty-fifth 
year. 
