THINNING MIXED PLANTATIONS. 



189 



sufficient to break off the leading top, and so disfigure 

 the tree ever afterwards. 



In consequence of no separate account having been 

 kept of the expenses or returns from this plantation 

 alone, it is impossible to give an exact statement of 

 such ; but from notes taken during several thinnings, 

 the labour exceeded the value by about 25 per cent. 

 This arose partly from the difficulty of felling the firs 

 and pines amongst the hardwoods, so as not to injure 

 the latter, partly from all the work having been done 

 at day-wages instead of by the piece, and partly from 

 the difficulty of clearing the ground of the wood and 

 branches, which had to be removed at great expense, and 

 for which no proper market could be found. Add to 

 this the more frequent thinning which mixed plan- 

 tations require, in consequence of the great difficulty 

 of keeping the nurses at a proper distance from the 

 hardwoods, and also the greater urgency of pruning, 

 from the trees becoming almost invariably defective 

 of branches on one side, while the growth is super- 

 abundant upon the other. 



The following statement shows the average actual 

 crop upon the ground in 1864, and represents the 

 market price per acre of the whole at that period : 



