THINNING YOUNG HARDWOOD PLANTATIONS. 201 



thinner, and pruner, but also to the proprietor, wood- 

 merchant, and mechanic. 



It will be found by any one who carefully studies 

 the subject, that the most valuable crop of timber is 

 always that of one species of tree only, and not a mix- 

 ture. Oak, ash, elm, sycamore, Scots fir, larch, spruce, 

 or silver fir, any of which, constituting a group, will be 

 found of much more value than any of them are when 

 mixed with others. 



The following examples will show how thinning 

 ought to be done in order to grow the most valuable 

 crop of timber at the least expense : 



No. 1 is a small oak plantation of about 2 acres, 

 grown on the Buckhurst Park estate in Sussex. The 

 site of the plantation was originally an orchard of fruit- 

 trees, and when discontinued as such, was planted with 

 oak-trees exclusively. It was originally planted very 

 close, probably less than 3 feet apart, and nothing 

 was done to it till fourteen to sixteen years old, when 

 a regular thinning was done by cutting out all the 

 inferior growths and such as were suitable for hop- 

 poles ; before thinning for this purpose, however, all 

 the trees intended to remain were marked with a 

 ring of paint, to indicate that they were to stand for 

 timber-trees, and denominated telleurs. At the time I 

 first saw the plantation (in 1854) the trees stood about 

 10 feet apart, equal to about 400 to the acre. Each 

 season about ten trees per acre were thinned out, more 

 for the sake of their bark than the value of the wood. 

 The trees were about 30 feet high, and about 15 to 

 18 inches girth above the swell of the root. What 

 appeared most remarkable about the plantation was 

 the great height of the trees compared with their 

 thickness, and the comparatively slow growth in thick- 



