CHAPTER XIX 



THINNING WOODS 



THIS will probably be for many years to come the 

 most important question for the planter. So far English 

 planters have usually taken a view of it wholly distinct 

 from that taken in Germany and France. Our under- 

 woods system and the notion that every fine tree should 

 be set out as a specimen tends to this most unfortunate 

 end. German and French forestry cannot be said to 

 follow any one settled plan, because soils and trees and 

 conditions vary so much that a great variety of wood- 

 land enters continental forestry. But one thing is 

 common to all their systems, and that is that the trees 

 stand shoulder to shoulder ; and in German forests, in 

 the case of some kinds of trees, we find ourselves in 

 darkness, even on a sunny day, owing to the closeness of 

 the wood. The sun getting into the wood and the rain- 

 absorbing Grass covering the floor of the wood would 

 work havoc, and it is not very different in our country. 

 In those forests not only do we see the trees growing 

 close together and shading and sheltering each other, 

 but other young trees of the kinds that will thrive in 

 shade beneath them in active and beautiful life. The 

 essential idea is to keep the overhead canopy intact, 

 never to let the soil of the wood get dried up, and to 

 keep down the Grass, which always comes if we let our 

 wood get thin. 



