214 THE PRINCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



prospective value of the stand and the final yield will be 

 very much reduced. A thinning will save the trees of 

 value, and there are certainly a great many instances in 

 which an actual outlay will be not only fully justified but 

 necessary if the purpose of management is to be accom- 

 plished. 



In applying the principles relating to the grade of 

 thinnings, the forester often finds it necessary to depart 

 widely from the normal. This is particularly true in 

 mixed forests, and those not perfectly regular. A stand 

 which has been established under management, and 

 cleaned at the right time, presents a quite different prob- 

 lem from a volunteer stand which has developed on an 

 area cleared by fire or windfall and has never been treat- 

 ed at all. In the latter there are great irregularities. 

 In spite of these irregularities the principles of thin- 

 nings may be applied in our even-aged stands. 



In this country the forests in which thinnings are 

 practised are now for the most part privately owned. 

 Private forests will, in the main, be handled on a rela- 

 tively short rotation. The object will be to raise as 

 large trees as possible within a given time. Usually the 

 grade of the trees will not be so important as the size. 

 The general policy will be to keep the forest dense dur- 

 ing the first half of the rotation so as to produce reason- 

 ably good form, and to thin rather heavily during the 

 last half of the rotation. 



In thinnings at all ages the forester should mark for 

 removal all the dead, dying, and defective trees that can 



