BRITISH FOREST TREES 67 



fortieth to the fiftieth year, whilst on deeper, fresher, more 

 humose sands and loams, and milder soils generally, the 

 tendency does not make itself so apparent until about the 

 sixtieth to eightieth year. It is only under such circumstances 

 as in the latter case that the pine gets fair play as a forest 

 tree, and has the opportunity of developing normally into 

 the fine and profitable timber tree that it unquestionably is. 

 The characteristic reddening of the pine stems along the 

 upper portion of the bole and near the crown takes place at 

 the time when forests begin to thin themselves strongly. 



With continued interruption of the canopy two points of 

 interest press themselves on the attention of the owner; 

 first, that in consequence of the diminution of the number 

 of stems the total annual increment begins to fall below the 

 average maximum that the soil can and should yield, and 

 secondly, that insolation of the soil and its exposure to the 

 wasting influence of dry winds must lead to deterioration 

 and impoverishment. Both of these circumstances indicate 

 the proper and prudent time for reproduction, which can 

 then be most advantageously undertaken either before or 

 after the crop on the ground has been utilised. 



As already remarked, with no other species of high 

 forest does the period of rotation or fall of the timber 

 range between more varying limits than in the case of the 

 Scots pine. Sometimes the indications above referred to 

 recommend the utilisation of the crop at fifty to sixty years 

 on the poorer situations, when the total average annual 

 yield is often much greater than at a higher age, and where 

 advancing years do not necessarily bring with them a finer 

 development of large timber ; on soils of such quality, 

 however, the outturn yielded is more generally suitable for 

 petty requirements than for building purposes, or works 

 requiring large squares. Many pine forests give good useful 

 building timber at seventy years of age, yielding at the same 



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