224 



FELLING AND CONVERSION OF TIMBER. 



and saplings in the natural regeneration-fellings under the 



group system. The more susceptible to damage the young 



crop, the most careful should the woodcutter be, and the more 



important it is to effect such fellings 

 gradually, that is to distribute them 

 over several years, and to choose a 

 season for the felling when the young 

 growth is least brittle and least liable 

 to damage by the unavoidable acci- 

 dents contingent to fellings : in any 

 case such fellings must never be 

 undertaken during frost. 



Secondary fellings over young seed- 

 lings are also highly dangerous to the 

 young growth, and should be effected 

 only when sufficient snow is on the 

 ground to protect the plants. 



The lopping of branches from 

 standing trees may secure several 

 objects. It sometimes assists the fall 

 of a tree in a certain direction to lop 

 the branches from the opposite side 

 of the tree, but the chief reason for 



lopping the branches is that the tree in its fall may do as 



little injury as possible to the young growth. 



Whether this lopping is necessary or not depends on several 

 circumstances. In the first place, 

 it must be remembered that it is 

 not the stem, but the crown of 

 the tree which may do serious 

 injury to the young plants. If, 

 therefore, it can be arranged to 

 throw a tree with its crown on a 

 blank unstoukud with young growth, 

 there is no need for lopping its 

 branches. In such cases several 



trees may be thrown with their crowns on the same blank. 

 Lopping the branches of a tree is dangerous, and men 



capable of doing it are not always available, so that the forester 



Fig. 147. Removing top of 

 tree. (T. H. Monteath.) 



Fig. 148. Climbing-irons, 

 (After 



