176 ON THE FELLING OF TIMBER TREES. 



but I have not found this to be the case in my experience in the 

 management of plantations within fifteen miles of large coal mines. 

 In such a locality, when the price of prop-wood is high, it will 

 almost invariably be found that proportionally high prices will be 

 obtained for larger timber. While, if the plantations be far from a 

 market, or a railway station or seaport, the crop at that age would 

 not be worth the planting, cutting, and removing, and would there- 

 fore be a dead loss to the grower of from twenty to thirty years' rent 

 of the land. Further, it would not pay to cut down trees of the 

 above description for fencing and estate purposes, because these can 

 easily be supplied from the thinnings of well managed plantations. 



It has already been remarked that, as a rule, timber trees should 

 be allowed to grow to large dimensions before being cut ; but the 

 situation in which they grow often necessitates a different course. 

 For instance, in glens and mountainous districts, and in places inac- 

 cessible to horses, the most profitable management would be to cut 

 them down before they arrive at a size too large to be removed in 

 entire lengths by manual labour. At that early stage fir trees 

 would be valuable for prop-wood, fencing, and other estate pur- 

 poses; ash for handle-wood, and birch or alder for charcoal or 

 bobbin-wood, &c. ; whereas, if allowed to grow to a large size, they 

 would have to be cross-cut in lengths to admit of their removal by 

 men, and this would, in the first place, make the timber useless for 

 many purposes for which it might otherwise have been valuable; and 

 secondly, the expense of removal by manual labour might equal, 

 or even exceed, the value of the timber itself. When Scots fir, 

 larch, or spruce have been planted as nurses for hard-wood trees, 

 they should be thinned out as soon as they begin to encroach on the 

 trees intended for the main crop, as this is necessary for the welfare 

 of the plantation, irrespective of the value of the thinnings. But 

 when such trees are planted as the future crop, on suitable ground, 

 it will almost always be found most profitable to allow them to 

 attain timber size. 



The larch being of fast growth, and useful for various purposes 

 at an early age, can be cut down profitably much sooner than the 

 Scots fir. 



Oak is extensively used for ship and boat building purposes, 

 furniture, agricultural implements, &c, and is longer than any of 

 our forest trees in arriving at maturity. It can never be cut down 

 so profitably when small, as when well matured and having plenty 

 of heart-wood. When young and with little heart-wood, and a large 



