USES OF DEMONSTRATION FOREST IN FORESTRY EDUCATION. 59 



The examples given are intended to show the nature of some 

 of the work which may be undertaken in Demonstration woods, 

 and in the hope of inducing others to take up similar work. 

 Other methods of making the measurements can of course be 

 adopted, but the advantage of the quarter-girth method is that 

 it is in daily use and best understood on estates where assistance 

 may be obtained in keeping records. Apart from these con- 

 siderations, Continental methods are to be preferred. An 

 interesting point to be specially noted in connection with the 

 plots selected, is that at thirty-five years of age the volume 

 production in each case is about equal, notwithstanding that 

 the number of stems per acre in one case is very much in excess 

 of the other. 



The quality of the timber may, however, be very different. 

 A reference to Figs. 4 and 5 will make this apparent. The plots 

 are situated near each other in nearly uniform conditions as 

 regards soil, altitude and exposure. Space does not permit of 

 full details being given of this branch of work, but one point 

 may specially be noted with reference to thinnings (column 10 

 of table). The thinnings in the plots described were restricted 

 almost entirely to the removal of suppressed (dead) trees. 

 Many of the roots of those suppressed trees were dug up, and 

 it was found that 80 per cent, of them had no proper root-system 

 and that they had retained the bent, distorted shape which is some- 

 times produced through careless nursery treatment of the young 

 plants, or, it may be, through careless planting. To what extent 

 this may have resulted in actual loss of volume it is difficult to 

 estimate. We may reasonably assume, however, that as the 

 development of individuals in the crop has been retarded, this 

 must also influence the mass. It may be argued that in any 

 case these suppresseed stems would have to be removed as 

 thinnings, but this may not necessarily be so. The largest 

 plants in a batch of seedlings are most likely to have their roots 

 damaged and distorted by careless handling in the nursery. It 

 is conceivable therefore that the best and most vigorous growers 

 may in this way be permanently crippled, and that a large loss 

 in increment may result. If natural reproduction is impracti- 

 cable (and as a rule it is), it is highly important to have careful 

 handling of the trees in the nursery and in planting operations. 

 Few species suffer so much from careless nursery treatment as 

 Scots pine. In Plate III., Fig. 9, there is shown a portion of 



