THE NEW FORESTRY. 51 



and spruce reach their most useful maximum dimensions at 

 one hundred years of age or thereabout, and the final crop, or 

 what remains of it, is then swept away and the ground re-sown 

 or re-planted. On the same principle, the beech, mixed with a 

 few other hard-woods, is allowed one hundred and twenty-five 

 years, and the oak one hundred and fifty years. Practically 

 all the species grown come within these three groups. There 

 is no irregularity and no blanks. When all the main divisions 

 of the wooded area have reached the productive stage, each 

 yielding its annual quota of timber, the " working circle " is 

 said to be complete reproduction, of course, going on in pro- 

 portion to the fellings. Supposing this method was applied 

 .to a well-wooded estate in England, the wooded area would 

 have to be arranged in divisions of workable size, which, when 

 fully stocked, would each yield a certain and regular quantity 

 of timber. The average annual income expected from the 

 woods, and the nature of the demand would probably, in any 

 case, determine the number of divisions, their size, and the 

 period of rotation. The woods on any estate in this country 

 might be laid out and conducted on the foregoing principles, 

 and once the divisions were set out, an estimate of their value 

 and the cost of stocking fully could easily be made out* In 

 German forests the ultimate or final cutting is the best, but is 

 not the only crop, as large quantities are cut before the end of 

 the rotation period. Where the forests are on a large scale, 

 the above rotation periods are found to answer, but in order 

 that capital may not be too long locked up in standing timber, 

 and to - meet the most profitable demand, they may be 

 shortened. By way of illustration, supposing that on an 

 English estate it was found that the crop of larch could be 

 grown and disposed of most profitably within the space of 

 forty years, that period ought to be the end of the rotation, and 

 so on with other species, according to the age at which it was 

 found most profitable to reap the crop. 



First, the general theory of the system is that thick plant- 

 ing at the outset and dense culture throughout are the first 

 essentials in the production of good timber ; second, that thick 

 planting leads to the early establishment of the overhead 

 canopy, promotes height growth, and protects the soil, pre- 

 serving its fertility and keeping it at a more uniform degree of 



* On the Raith estate, belonging to Mr. Munro Ferguson, M.P., in Fife, 800 

 acres of woods have been recently re-arranged on the above principle, and 

 are expected to render a sustained annual yield of at least 60,000 cubic feet 

 on a forty years' rotation. 



