TENDING OF CROWDED WOODS 201 



their power to bear shade. Hence, light-demanding trees 

 will lose their lower branches quicker than shade-bearers. 

 In some cases the dead branches drop quickly to the 

 ground, and in others they remain for years producing 

 knots and irregularity in the timber laid on in the 

 meantime. Trees grown in the open retain their lower 

 branches more or less throughout life, and they produce 

 in consequence timber of inferior value as compared with 

 trees grown in crowded woods. ^ 



In the cases where the lower branches do not drop off 

 naturally, they may be removed artificially, and this 

 process is termed " Pruning." In Sylviculture the 

 principal objects of pruning are as follows : 



(1.) Increase in value of the pruned tree. 



(2.) Freedom of younger growth from the too great 



cover caused by overhanging trees. 

 (3.) To stimulate the expansion of the crown in the 



upper part of the tree. 



Branchless boles are of greater value than those with 

 branches, because the timber splits better, and the scant- 

 lings sawn out of them have fewer knots. In order to 

 realize these advantages, pruning may be extended to 

 the removal of dead branches, or to that of green ones 

 as well. Pruning may exercise an additional advantage 

 in causing the bole to grow more cylindrically, instead 

 of approaching the shape of a cone ; in other words it 

 may render boles less " tapering." 



The second of the above-mentioned cases occurs where 

 a wood consists of two or more generations of different 

 ages, as in coppice with standards, the selection system, 

 two-storied high forest, &c. It may also occur in 



