THE NEW FORESTRY. 169 



and sorted according to size and quality, and removed to spots 

 where they can be seen and disposed of. First thinnings at 

 this stage will not be very valuable, but of the length of from 

 twenty to thirty feet, from a dense plantation such as is here 

 contemplated, they ought to be of more useful dimensions 

 than can be expected from plantations thinned often and 

 severely on the system hitherto practised. Such thinnings, 

 according to general testimony, seldom pay for the cost of 

 removal, being short, tapering, and rough. A reference to 

 Plate No. 2 will show what these rails are like in a forest of 

 Scotch fir. Being branchless almost to the top, smooth, of 

 almost uniform thickness throughout, from two to three inches 

 in diameter and from twenty to thirty feet long, they are 

 useful for fencing and other purposes, and are in good demand 

 in that way. In parks surrounding some of the most palatial 

 castles in Germany, the fences along the avenues are often of 

 spruce rails joined neatly together. As to the small brush- 

 wood and tops, unless disease is feared, or it can be sold for 

 firewood, it may be left to decay where it lies. This ends 

 the first thinning, and if it has been properly executed the 

 tops of the trees all over the plantation will have an even and 

 regular appearance, and there will be no gaps anywhere. 



The second thinning should be conducted on the same 

 principle as the first, and, if practicable, it should be delayed 

 until the trees have reached measurable pole dimensions of 

 from two-and-a-half to four feet or thereabout. It is the 

 general custom in timber sales in this country to value all poles 

 above one cubic foot and upwards as " timber " at so much per 

 foot, and as the price per foot is usually a great advance on 

 that received for rails and stakes below that size, it is prefer- 

 able to delay thinning until the measurable size is reached. 

 Spruce and Scotch fir poles of small size are of least value, but 

 ash, sycamore, birch, oak, alder, and larch are readily disposed 

 of when they exceed one cubic foot ; and under ordinary con- 

 ditions the cubic contents of the trees in a young plantation 

 should average from two to three feet at the age of thirty-five 

 years, before which time the second thinning should hardly 

 be necessary. The subject of thinning, from this point of view, 

 is most important. In evidence given before the Forestry 

 Committee some years ago, it was plainly shown that one of 

 the mistakes made in estimating returns from woods, conducted 

 on Brown's system of early and frequent thinnings, was that 

 far too high a value was put on the thinnings and that they 

 were almost worthless, being under measurable size, rough, 



