C HAP. ix.] Tending of Woods 181 



actually formed a necessary portion of the initial cost of 

 formation ; for no matter whether raised naturally, or artificially 

 by sowing or planting, the development of the young growth 

 is essentially dependent on the time when, and the extent 

 to which, a full and compact leaf-canopy is attained. 



Sometimes, in natural regenerations and in sowings, the 

 young seedling growth is so crowded that the crop becomes 

 half choked, and the individual plants, in their resulting 

 struggle for light and air, become drawn up so attenuatedly 

 as not to be able to bear their own weight. In the case of 

 the shade-bearing genera, they then remain to all appearance 

 almost stationary ; but the natural process of selection is very 

 much more rapidly effected by the light-demanding kinds of 

 trees. Yet in both classes of trees some artificial aid in the 

 struggle is of untold benefit to the survivors from among which 

 the future mature crop is to be formed. The earlier such 

 operations of tending are begun the better ; and when young 

 plants are not required for transplanting, the best and cheapest 

 way is to use the shears as much as possible in cutting off 

 weaklings close to the ground. Should this measure, from one 

 cause or another, have been delayed till the young crops are 

 from ten to twenty years of age, then the general reduction in 

 the number of plants must be undertaken very cautiously, else 

 the remaining saplings, bereft of support, are apt to lean over 

 and even to get quite laid after heavy snowfall. It is therefore 

 best to cut narrow lines through the thicket, thus allowing 

 the plants along the edges a good chance of developing more 

 rapidly and vigorously than those between the lines. These 

 dangers are not so great in plantations, where the greater cost of 

 close planting secure comparative immunity from such a risk. 



In practice it much more frequently happens that in young 

 crops, whether formed naturally or artificially, the density is 

 below the normal degree most favourable for their develop- 

 ment. Wherever blanks may thus occur, they should be planted 

 up at once with the species of tree best suited for soil and 



