120 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



The establishment of a nursery in or near 

 the proposed wood greatly diminishes the cost 

 of replanting. There is a gain in economy and 

 efficiency when felling, planting, cleaning, and 

 thinning are all done regularly and as matters 

 of routine and not as occasional efforts. The 

 greatest efficiency and economy result if an 

 approximately equal area is planted in every 

 year ; but it is rarely possible to maintain this 

 ideal for any lengthened period. Except on 

 estates of considerable size there cannot be 

 found in every year an area that requires plant- 

 ing. It is necessary to increase the size of the 

 area to be planted if the area felled has been 

 very large in proportion to the total woodland. 

 For example, if all the woodlands had been cut 

 during the war for pit-props and it has been 

 decided to replant with larch on a seventy-year 

 rotation, planting one-seventieth of the area in 

 each year would be a mistaken policy. The 

 economy and efficiency of continuous annual 

 planting would be more than balanced by the 

 loss of having the greater part of the land for 

 many years without any crop of trees except 

 such as might spring up under natural regenera- 

 tion. In such a case the area to be annually 

 planted might be advantageously fixed at a 



