vi] METHODS OF TREATMENT 53 



improved before their turn comes round for conversion. This 

 general scheme for the allocation of each part of the crop to 

 its most appropriate position in a periodic block is the most~ 

 important part of the working- plan. The periodic blocks will 

 have to be composed of areas scattered about all over the forest,, 

 and are not likely to be able to be compact self-contained areas. 

 Periodic Block I will at once be brought under conversion, and 

 regeneration fellings, regulated by area and cultural rules, will 

 be carried out. 



Seed fellings will probably be unnecessary, so we shall only 

 make secondary and final fellings, in which all the old stock 

 standing on the area in hand, down to, say, about three feet in 

 girth, will gradually be removed. Everything below this limit 

 will be left, if good, to form part of the new crop. If the cultural 

 conditions of the regeneration permit it, it might be possible to 

 prescribe the number of fellings and their periodicity; but as a 

 rule such a prescription would be unwise. 



This procedure would be based on the assumption that the 

 conditions of regeneration were straightforward and easy; if 

 this is not so, a less rigid method must be adopted, and instead 

 of prescribing the number of fellings by area with a fixed period- 

 icity, we must fix the possibility by volume, and instead of 

 having defined annual coupes, we should make the regeneration 

 fellings in any part of the block that was most ready for them, 

 and be guided by the cultural requirements of each part. 



A tabular statement showing the areas to be worked over 

 year by year will be prepared for the duration of the first period, 

 and a set of cultural rules, laying down the details of the manner 

 in which these fellings are to be carried out, and providing what 

 is, and what is not, to be felled, under special circumstances, 

 will be carefully drawn up to accompany it. The operation being 

 a purely cultural one, these rules will be of great importance, but 

 they should be framed so as to allow some exercise of discretion 

 to the officer who carries them out. Some subsidiary operations, 

 such as cleanings and cutting-back, will be prescribed to follow 

 the fellings in Block I. 



Meanwhile in all the other blocks, selection fellings will be 

 continued during the first period, at the end of which time 



