148 Thinning woods 



as they ought to be, there is no need for thinning for, 

 say, fourteen years. 



After that time one may take out the beaten trees 

 and the wrong kinds that have got in from seed or 

 otherwise. The first thinning will have little more to 

 do than this, and the wood will not be very valuable, 

 but later on the trees will begin to take some value. 

 It should be remembered that, however we may want 

 a close canopy overhead, each tree must in the end have 

 room to attain its full development. The baby Pine we 

 can hardly see in the Grass will after fifty years or so 

 want its 20 ft. in ordinary level land. For though we 

 may see Pines on their native mountains growing closer 

 than this, we have to average the quality of the poor 

 land which trees are so often planted in. We must also 

 think what the trees are grown for, whether firewood, 

 pit-props, masts, or the best class of timber for con- 

 struction work. Valuable trees like the Oak would 

 be reduced one-half in value by neglect to give them 

 sufficient space to grow in. In Britain generally trees 

 have three times more space allotted them than they 

 need have. 



