CHAP, viii.] Formation of Timber Crops 1 75 



very many cases plantations yield the better results both with 

 regard to height and to girth ; whilst, as regards total produc- 

 tion of timber (inclusive of thinnings), there is no particular 

 difference, although the proportion of branches is larger in 

 plantations owing to the greater initial growing-space enjoyed 

 by each individual stem. Whether or not the advantages as 

 regards dimensions will be maintained by plantations up to 

 the time of their fall as mature crops, is a question for the 

 answering of which no data are yet available for a trustworthy 

 comparison. 



On the following point, however, it is well to note the 

 words of so eminent an authority on sylviculture as Professor 

 Gayer of Munich : 



' That the rapid initial development of many plantations considerably 

 affects the quality of the timber produced in comparison with what 

 is yielded by crops formed by means of sowing, and that consequently 

 the timber of the former is less able to withstand the attacks of fungi 

 later on, is no longer a matter of doubt or question. 



' It must, however, be expressly stated that the youthful development 

 of timber crops can afford no reliable indication for the future quality of 

 the mature fall. Expectations, anticipations, and suppositions in this 

 respect have no justification ; as the whole matter depends most essen- 

 tially on the later treatment of the crops (whether formed by sowing or 

 by planting) during the operations of thinning out? 



In estimating the financial advantages likely to accrue from 

 one or other of these methods of formation of crops, the 

 initial costs, of course, form an important factor. And, as 

 planting is, on the whole, more expensive, often very con- 

 siderably so, than sowing, a choice in favour of the latter 

 method can generally be advised wherever special conditions 

 of soil and climate do not indicate any necessity for planting. 

 Where, however, the inexpensive method of notching can be 

 carried out with very young seedlings without any special 

 preparation of the soil, planting operations can frequently be 

 undertaken just as cheaply as, or even cheaper than, sowing ; 

 and in all such exceptional cases planting deserves the prefer- 



