INTRODUCTION 



Sylviculture is the art of applying the knowledge 

 of the requirements of different trees, in tending and 

 regenerating existing woods or in rearing fresh wood- 



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land crops, and in working them to the best advantage 

 of the forest owner. 



In order, therefore, to create or work a forest crop 

 in the best manner possible for that object, it is 

 necessary first to study the different factors which may 

 favour or stand in the way of proper development. In 

 tropical countries especially, where vast areas under 

 forest have been neglected for centuries, and where 

 many adverse factors have combined in impoverishing 

 them, a thorough study is required of the conditions 

 which will enable the forester to lead them back to a 

 healthier and more valuable state. Indeed, in such 

 areas, the primary duty of the forester will be in 

 arresting the decline of his forests, and to improve them 

 so that they may ultimately be of the greatest utility 

 to the owner. 



Whether in rearing new crops or in tending and 

 working older ones, be they in a healthy condition or 

 deteriorated, it must be borne in mind that, even in 

 tropical countries where the growth of trees is rapid, 

 it takes only a short time to fell a tree, but several years 

 to grow another one in its place ; that mistakes, there- 

 fore, may take a long time in being set straight, and 

 that no pains should be spared in avoiding them. For 

 this reason, therefore, it is also necessary to study all 



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