106 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS 



PT. II 



on natural sowings shed from the forest trees close by. 

 And in already existing forest the regeneration may be 

 obtained either wholly or in part by these artificial 

 means, or it may be obtained either by seed shed by 

 parent trees in the forest, or from shoots or root-suckers 

 given out by the stumps of trees felled, or from their 

 roots. This leads to a broad division of creation or 

 regeneration into artificial and natural, the carrying 

 into effect of either of which may be done in different 

 manners. 



Once the regeneration has been secured, the work 

 in the forest is devoted to the development of the young 

 crop to maturity, and of guiding this development by 

 means of other operations to the point where it reaches 

 the greatest amount of utility to the owner. 



Before proceeding to a description of the different 

 measures which have to be taken, it will be useful to 

 give the definitions of certain technical terms which are 

 in constant use. 



A seedling is a plant which has sprung direct from 

 seed ; in forestry, however, the term is usually applied 

 to such a plant in its youngest stage, i.e. when, in the 

 case of young trees, it is not much more than one 

 metre (3 to 4 ft.) high. When it has reached that 

 height it becomes a sapling, and it continues as such 

 until the time when, growing in forest, it begins to 

 lose its lower branches, when it becomes a pole. It 

 remains in that stage until it has attained its full height, 

 when it becomes a tree. Botanically speaking, a tree is 

 a plant which is capable of carrying a single stem, under 

 forest, up to about 8 metres (25 ft.), without giving out 

 any main branches, while a plant of similar mode of 

 growth but of lesser size would be called an arborescent 

 shrub ; and the term shrub is applied to woody plants 

 which naturally branch into several stems from near the 

 ground, the term under -shrub being given to those 

 woody plants which do not exceed one metre in height. 



When the floor of the forest is covered with a mass 

 of seedlings, under-shrubs, and other low plants, this 



