30 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



silver fir, and at the same time further planting of 4-year-old 

 nursery plants of silver fir is made in those parts which have 

 not already been stocked, and which are likely to form the 

 next removal groups. In many of these areas, beech and 

 spruce are seeded naturally, and a percentage of these two 

 species is very useful in a wood of silver fir. In d'Herment, 

 where the Scots pine crop is actually in the conversion stage, 

 and the first conversion felling has been done, the silver fir is 

 already established in groups of up to forty years of age, so 

 that by the end of the conversion period it is hoped to have 

 on the area a complete stocking of silver fir of every age from 

 ninety years downwards, together with a percentage of beech 

 and spruce of varying ages. 



C. — Silver Fir of Primeval Forests. 



Many of the mountain areas around the Monts Dore have 

 been maintained under forest for many centuries, and the 

 chmatic conditions resemble those found at considerably higher 

 altitudes in the Vosges and the Jura, while on the uplands of 

 the Livardois and the Monts de Forez, between which the river 

 Dore runs, the areas of silver fir are surprisingly like many 

 parts of the Black Forest. Though the total area is not great, 

 and many of the individual forests amount to less than 100 

 hectares, their value to the community, both from the stand- 

 point of timber production and protection against erosion, is 

 incalculable. The management of these forests is by the 

 Selection system throughout, but the great difference observed 

 in the application of silvicultural rules enables us to treat this 

 subject under the two types of Primitive Selection and Improved 

 Selection. 



(/.) Primitive Selection. — In many privately owned forests, 

 where the proprietors continue to pay little attention to the 

 counsel of trained foresters, the regeneration of the silver fir 

 is left to chance, and only the mature trees are removed in 

 the Selection fellings. This is actually continuing Nature's own 

 method without attempting in any way to favour the develop- 

 ment of the young crop, with the result that blanks occur in the 

 canopy, and when these are not filled up the stems become 

 coarse and branchy. The soil also deteriorates when left 

 exposed, and the rate of growth in consequence falls off; 

 grazing is also a fruitful source of trouble if not regulated by 



