76 TENDING OF WOODS 



place ; and also, when three or four dominant trees are 

 struggling against each other, the best tree should be relieved 

 by cutting one or more of the others. 



In mixed woods matters are rather different, as it is often 

 advisable to cut out a dominant tree of an inferior species for 

 the sake of a dominated one of a more valuable species; thus 

 a birch would be cut out if topping an oak. Moreover, in 

 such woods care must be taken not to cut a shade-bearing 

 species merely because it is under a light-demanding one. 

 Such a tree is not necessarily suppressed, and is doing useful 

 work in covering the soil. All light-demanders suppressed 

 beyond recovery should be cut out, but shade-bearers should 

 only be cut if they are suppressed by a taller shade-bearer. 

 If a valuable light-demander is beneath an inferior one, the 

 latter should be cut if the former is likely to recover. 



In a mixed wood it is also necessary to consider the peculiar 

 character of each species, and to carry out the thinning 

 accordingly. Thus in a mixed beech and oak wood, while 

 the beech should be kept close-grown the crowns of the 

 oak must be more thoroughly freed. 



In order to produce the highest quality of timber, thinnings 

 should be commenced early, repeated frequently, and moderately. 

 This is the golden rule for thinning. 



The best procedure is to make the first thinning at about 

 the fifteenth year for light-demanders, and at about the 

 twentieth year for shade-bearers, when the struggle for 

 existence has been properly set up, when a few dead trees are 

 found here and there, and when the lower branches have been 

 killed. The thinnings should then be repeated every five 

 years for light-demanders, and every ten years for shade- 

 bearers, and be light in character till the woods are fifty or 

 sixty years old. Conifer woods do not generally require 

 thinning after this age except to remove dead or unhealthy 

 trees, as they are usually felled at from seventy to eighty 

 years of age ; but with broad-leaved species, if these are to 



