146 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



been an instant and thorough thinning, which in the majority 

 of cases effectually prevented further growth, and resulted in 

 half the trees being blown over at the first storm. With 

 the effects of such treatment constantly before their eyes, 

 and with the firm belief in their minds that the evil lay in 

 the neglect of thinning rather than in the practice of it, the 

 old-fashioned forester took the earliest opportunity of thinning 

 out his trees to an extent which reduced their height-growth 

 and favoured branch development to an undesirable extent. 

 As pruning was the only remedy for this, and as free thinning 

 was the order of the day, the former subject became a 

 prominent feature in the work of the careful forester, until at 

 last he believed that a good timber tree could not be pro- 

 duced without it. 



It is quite possible that free thinning, combined with 

 careful pruning, may produce a crop of timber containing a 

 larger number of well - developed trees than the modern 

 system of close order. But the forester on a large estate is 

 rarely able, and is certainly not justified by the financial 

 results of the work, to keep a squad of men swinging about, 

 like monkeys, in the crowns of his trees with hand-saws 

 or bill-hooks. In practical forestry the fact should never be 

 lost sight of that every additional pound spent in the early 

 stages of growing a crop of trees may be multiplied by five 

 or six at the end of the rotation, and that needless expense is 

 bad forestry, if nothing else. 



While the above statement must be accepted as a simple 

 fact under ordinary circumstances, it must not be concluded 

 that all pruning is a mistake. Under certain circumstances 

 it may prove a useful remedy for neglected or over-thinned 

 plantations, and especially for the latter. In oak planta- 

 tions, or in coppice with standards, again, pruning is an 

 almost essential agent for producing good results ; for in 

 either case a certain amount of open order must be given 

 the trees, and this leads to irregular growth and coarse side 

 branches, which priming alone can correct. Even in such 

 cases, however, we believe such work should only be attempted 

 on trees under fifty years of age, and that the bulk of it 

 should be confined to those under twenty-five. To carry out 

 pruning operations on old or middle-aged timber on a large 



