THE NEW FORESTRY. 53 



example, averaging from five to six inches quarter girth in 

 the middle, can be produced in from twenty-five to forty-five 

 years without any thinning at all, but trunks larger and thicker 

 are also produced from forests which have been sparingly 

 thinned a few times in the course of the whole rotation period. 

 Increment of bole depends upon the amount of living top of 

 branches and foliage the tree is allowed to carry, and between 

 youth and middle age, or even later, these may be permitted to 

 increase, when thick trunks in the mature crop is an object, 

 consistently with the preservation of the overhead canopy. 

 From the British forester's point of view, what appeared 

 objectionable to us in those German forests was the large 

 proportion of under-sized trees existing in the middle-aged 

 and even older crops. We do not mean short trees, for all 

 were tall and clean, but under-girthed, slender-stemmed trees, 

 such as could not be disposed of profitably in this country. 

 In Germany, of course, firewood has to be produced as well 

 as timber something like thirty per cent, going for that pur- 

 pose, and the small trees and cordwood supply this demand, 

 which in Britain is unimportant* If the forests were a little 

 more evenly regulated, much of the small stuff would be got 

 rid of, and the trees left would be larger and more useful. 

 This German foresters understand, and before the end of the 

 rotation period they do sometimes thin to promote girth, but in 

 this country that would have to be the rule, while still acting 

 on the German principle of first securing height-growth, clean 

 trunks and an unbroken leaf canopy. 



It will be seen by the foregoing that in the dense system 

 of forest-tree culture, underwood, of the kind allowed for covert 

 and other purposes in the over-thinned woods of the past, is 

 not contemplated. In dense woods it cannot be grown as a 

 crop, its place being taken by timber trees. As far as game 

 covert is concerned, it will, however, be seen, by a reference 

 to Chapter II, that an equivalent for underwood is provided 

 in the shape of open glades or spaces filled with trees and 

 bushes of the usual underwood kind, and where they are sure 

 to thrive far more successfully than under trees. Underwood 

 or covert, in dense woods, is, however, not an impossibility if 

 the right species are selected, and the subject is dealt with in 

 a short chapter towards the end of the book. 



* Since the above was written I find that more firewood is consumed on 

 many estates than has been supposed, wood being almost exclusively burnt in 

 both mansion and cottage for economical reasons usually loppings and 

 unsaleable butts some mansions using nearly 100 tons per annum. 



