142 Practical Forestry 



A plantation 130 acres in extent was composed of oak, 

 larch and Spanish chestnut, placed at regular distances 

 apart throughout the whole extent of the wood. Now, the 

 soil was gravelly for a considerable distance down, and, 

 consequently, fairly well suited for the chestnut, but just 

 the reverse for the larch, which, on such a soil, generally 

 becomes " pumped," or rotten at the core. In thinning this 

 particular plantation, it would have been very unwise to 

 cut away the chestnut and the oak and leave the larch, 

 and this had happened to some extent before the proper 

 system of management and adaptability of soil to tree was 

 thought of. Larch may look healthy enough, and show 

 but small indications of disease, even when growing on 

 gravel up to twenty or thirty years of age, so that it is with 

 difficulty that the inexperienced become aware of the 

 pending doom that usually awaits this tree when planted 

 on such a soil. This example is merely given to point out 

 how carefully thinning should be gone about, and that in all 

 cases it is a wise policy to study soil in relation to the future 

 crop of timber before an axe is laid to the tree. 



At the outset of these remarks on thinning plantations 

 it should be distinctly borne in mind that there are two 

 chief objects for which trees may be grown, each requiring 

 a special mode of management, in order that the best results 

 may be obtained. 



The first is their management in a purely economical 

 sense or with a view to profit ; the second, their manage- 

 ment with a view to ornament. There is also a third 

 object that is well worthy of consideration, and that is the 

 growing of timber in one and the same wood, both for orna- 

 ment and utility combined, and this is very frequently the 

 case with home woodlands that are visible from roads and 

 drives, with strips bounding parks or pleasure-grounds, 

 and on small properties. 



To produce ornamental trees of natural appearance is 

 by no means difficult, as by allowing the individual speci- 

 mens ample room for branch development, the desired 

 effect is gradually brought about. Far greater difficulty, 

 however, attends the production of the greatest quantity 



