I'.KITISH I < tREST TREES 131 



an accentuated measure of thinning out, an operation 

 otherwise lightly performed in crops of silver fir of 

 advanced age. When the actual felling for reproduction 

 takes place about ten years later, the extent to which the 

 standards are removed is mainly dependept on the nature 

 of the soil, the greatest number being retainable on the 

 fresh or moist patches where the young crop is likely to 

 suffer less from the overshadowing of the standards. 

 On drier patches reproduction in groups is preferable, 

 where the seedlings can have the full benefit of rainfall 

 and dew whilst still obtaining the protection of side- 

 shade ; in hollows, and coombs, and all other places 

 where frost is to be feared, the disposition of standards 

 should be nearly equal over the area. This clearing for 

 reproduction should be made when the number of cones 

 shows a favourable year, as otherwise, should the seed- 

 harvest fail, moist soil is apt to become overgrown with 

 weeds, and dry soil to become somewhat deteriorated. 

 Where self-sown growth has already taken possession of 

 the soil in patches, it should be tended as far as possible 

 by removal of standards above it, especially of those in 

 the centre which are likely to do most damage by 

 overshadowing. By this method of reproduction, how- 

 ever, considerations regarding the young crop are really 

 subordinated to those relative to the greater remuneration 

 expected in the harvesting of the mature crop, so that in 

 general the canopy of the standards is interrupted only 

 so far as to ensure the ultimate well-being of the younger 

 growth, when it at length attains the enjoyment of a greater 

 measure of light and air. The clearance in a seed-year 

 is therefore, under normal conditions of soil, usually con- 

 fined to such interruption of the canopy that the crowns of 

 the standards cannot close up again for the next four or five 

 years. Atmospheric precipitations can under these circum 



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