LIBRARY. 91 



poles,and perches; the production of these by self-sown seeds; 

 and artificial sowings or plantings required in the extension 

 or creation of forests, or the replenishing of any which have 

 become to a greater or less extent devastated, and of spots 

 in self-sown re-produced forests, which from any cause 

 may not have been covered with seedlings like the ground 

 around ; and to the treatment of the whole, till the cycle 

 or revolution of re-production and felling has been 

 completed. 



In the conservation, culture, and exploitation, or profit- 

 able disposal, of forest products, considerable differences 

 of practice exist. In Britain we hear much of game- 

 keepers ; on the Continent of Europe we hear much of 

 forest- warders ; here the game, there the wood, is the 

 object of conservation. In Britain we hear much of 

 arboriculture; on the Continent we hear much of sylviculture: 

 the former term I have told refers to woods and plantations, 

 the other term to woods and forests; in the one case 

 the unit is the tree, and the wood is considered as the 

 collection of trees ; in the other the wood is the unit, and 

 the trees are considered only as its constituent parts. In 

 the former, attention is given primarily to the sowing and 

 planting, and pruning it may be, and general culture of 

 the tree : nowhere, perhaps, has this arboriculture 

 been carried nearer to perfection than it has been in 

 Britain ; and the effects produced by the resulting woods 

 are wonderful. In the latter, attention is given primarily 

 to the wood or forest as a whole, capable of yielding pro- 

 ducts which can be profitably utilized ; and the result 

 generally is to produce a much greater proportion of fine 

 trees than does even the arboriculture which has been 

 referred to. And not less different is the exploitation of 

 woods in Britain and on the Continent. In Britain the 

 pecuniary returns obtained from woods is considered a 

 secondary matter in comparison with the amenity and 

 shelter which they afford ; but on the Continent the 

 material or pecuniary product is made the object of 

 primary importance. 



