70 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Wherever it is possible, as in all small woods in settled 

 districts, care should be taken not to leave fail places or 

 empty spots, and if the young growth has not started 

 well or evenly, planting from a nursery should help out. 



Where this method is to be introduced in our own wild- 

 woods of mixed stands the work must be suited to the 

 case. If, for instance, we have a sixty-acre piece of 

 woods, there would most likely be some parts stocked 

 with old trees, some other parts where old and young 

 are mixed, and some pieces where the ground is covered 

 largely with young trees. 



In this case it would be best to begin on the pieces of 

 old timber. But since the crowns of our old trees are so 

 very large, the directions about having the crowns three 

 to five yards apart for seed trees could not easily be fol- 

 lowed. The cutting of a large oak would often separate 

 the neighbors by twelve yards or more. For this reason 

 the large trees would be picked over, so that a selection 

 system would be applied at the start. But instead of 

 coming back at long intervals, the selection here would be 

 repeated as often as the gaps are restocked with young 

 growth. In this way one piece after another is renewed. 

 If it were desirable to have the woods in a regular shape, 

 and have it renewed in five twenty-year periods, of course 

 one fifth, or twelve acres, would have to be cut over and 

 renewed during twenty years. At first this would not be 

 very strictly adhered to, and if the regular cutting does 



