189 



CHAPTER III. 



TENDING OF WOODS. 



WHEN a wood has once been established it will, if 

 left undisturbed by outside influences, grow on and 

 reach maturity. The individual trees will, however, 

 enter upon a lively struggle for existence, and the 

 ultimate results will, in the majority of cases, only to a 

 limited extent meet the objects for which the wood has 

 been established. Moreover, external injurious effects 

 will make themselves felt, and further reduce the returns. 

 In order to realize those objects more fully, especially 

 where a certain class of timber is desired, the growing 

 wood requires well-directed tending from its formation 

 up to the time when it is finally cut over. Care must 

 be taken that the most favourable conditions for growth 

 are secured, and that the development of the individual 

 trees is so guided as to produce the desired results ; in 

 other words, the forester must take measures to preserve 

 the continued activity of the locality, and to see that 

 the wood has throughout its life a suitable composition. 

 The subject divides itself naturally into the following 

 two sections : 



(1.) Preservation of the factors of the soil. 

 (2.) Tending the crop or growing wood. 



It is not, however, intended to enter here in detail 

 upon all the matters which contribute to, or interfere 



