148 THINNING. 



branches to remain lying on the ground, for the pur- 

 pose of retaining moisture, and producing even a little 

 shade. Plantations of this sickly mis -thinned de- 

 scription are unfortunately too common, and may 

 be met with almost anywhere ; and it is therefore 

 strongly recommended that those whose interest is 

 at stake in such matters should make it known to 

 others as far as they can. 



Looking forward to the future prosperity of the 

 permanent crop, it will be found that by thinning at 

 a very early age no serious check is ever inflicted 

 upon the growing trees, and that they even continue 

 growing as fast after being thinned as they did before ; 

 but it is far otherwise with older and advanced plan- 

 tations, which, in almost all cases, fall off in growth 

 considerably for several years after thinning. Another 

 evil in allowing Scots fir plantations to be far ad- 

 vanced before thinning is, that their side branches 

 thereby lose their vitality at too early a stage of 

 growth, and which, when once lost, is never again 

 restored. 



A third objection to deferred thinning is, that the 

 trees are thereby prevented from properly rooting; 

 and want of roots is an evil that cannot be over- 

 estimated, for on the condition of proper rooting 

 the growth, development, and stability of the tree 

 entirely depend. In addition to these obvious and 

 conspicuous evils, there is yet another, which, though 

 in some respects less prominent, is yet equally real 

 and even more mischievous than any of the preceding 

 namely, that of inducing the rays of the sun to fall 

 directly upon the ground, thereby unduly heating it 

 and evaporating the moisture, which is thoroughly 

 essential to the proper growth of all well-grown Scots 



