58 



shelter, causing the seeds to germinate and a crop of seedlings to appear. The secondary 

 cutting is made to remove superfluous trees when, after a few years, the crop of seedlings 

 is complete, and it becomes necessary to give them more light. The final cutting removes 

 the remaining timber when the young plants cover the whole surface and have reached 

 the thicket stage. 



Improvement cuttings, consisting of cleanings and thinnings now step in. Cleanings 

 are made with the object of removing in the young growth the inferior species which 

 might otherwise gain the upper hand to the detriment of the valuable species. Thinnings 

 are afterwards made periodically to improve the growth of the more promising trees. 

 At first, it is best to leave the trees crowded, as the boles then become straight and 



' ' O 



cleaned of their lower branches. But after a time, usually when the crop has reached the 

 low pole stage, towards the age of forty years in European forests, the struggle between 

 the individual plants would become injurious and thinnings may be begun ; they are 

 made every ten years at first and every twenty as the trees approach maturity, or more 

 frequently with fast growing species, but in every case 't is essential that they should be 

 made moderate enough to preserve a continuous leaf canopy to the forest. 



The method of thinnings turns natural agencies to the best account, and is considered 

 the most advanced that can be applied to the management of forests. It is adapted to all 

 species, gives the best returns in timber, as regards both quantity and quality, and 

 ensures speedy and certain natural reproduction and constant improvement of the produce. 

 But it requires for its application very great care and skilful operators ; otherwise it may 

 give unsatisfactory results. 



A somewhat allied method known as " tire et aire " used to be in vogue in Europe. 

 In this system " equal areas of forest were cut over successively in the order in which 

 they followed on the ground, a fixed number of trees were reserved per acre, and the 

 young crops that came up were left to themselves and grew untouched for the whole 

 length of the rotation adopted." * 



SELECTION METHOD OR JAEDINAGE. Following Parade's definition, " Jardinage 

 consists in taking, here and there, the oldest trees, those decaying, damaged, or dry, 

 and others in good growth but needed for local requirements. In this mode of working 



the principle followed is never to take many trees at once on the same 



spot, and to spread as much as possible tlae jardinage over the whole forest."* To pre- 

 vent damage to the young growth, jardinage should be carried in successive sections of 

 the forest, returning over the same portion only every ten or twenty years. 



Jardinage is inferior to the method of thinnings, but of more certain and easy 

 application in this country. It imitates closely the action of Nature by removing one by 

 one those trees that would have first disappeared had they been left to fall from natural 



* Bagneris, Elements of Sylviculture, p. 23. 



** Lorentz et Parade, Culture des Boix, 6me ed. p. 294. 



