Thinning woods 147 



There is an error, however, in our planting which 

 ought to be mentioned, and which makes thinning a 

 much more onerous thing, and that is the nursery way 

 of planting trees too closely — e. g. i ft. or 15 in. 

 apart, of which we have seen many examples. In 

 such cases the trees grow so weakly that they never 

 form a good self-supporting stem, and in snow and other 

 storms may be blown over. Where trees are planted in 

 this way thinning is much more onerous, and the same 

 appHes when we raise trees from seed in the fields 

 where they are to grow. Trees should never be planted 

 closer than about 4 ft. apart. That space allows each 

 little tree to make a sturdy stem and become a useful 

 tree before there is any need to thin. In those countries 

 where thinning is best understood it is only done when 

 the thinnings are useful. Weak or dead trees, or trees 

 overtopped by their more vigorous neighbours, are cut 

 away, but never so that the overhead canopy is inter- 

 fered with. If the canopy be broken from disease or 

 accident or storm the remedy is to plant young trees 

 beneath which will bear shade. Thus the massed trees 

 remain, and the heads of these are always seeking the 

 light ; and thus the mass of rapid lengthening stems is 

 maintained, and the side branches drop off as they 

 decay, leaving strong trees. Thus the Beech, which 

 branches so freely with us, may be seen with clean 

 straight stems 130 ft. high. The same result could 

 be easily obtained in our country, where these trees do 

 as well as in the north of France or Germany. 



The time of thinning is an important consideration. 

 Generally, thinning is much more active in the early life 

 of trees than in their nearly mature state. When woods 

 of the ordinary Pines of Europe are planted 4 ft. apart, 



