BRITISH FOREST TRI.I - 183 



mast-year has come round, which can usually be foretold by 

 the thicker, swollen appearance of the future flowering buds in 

 autumn and winter, especially after a hot summer. About 

 J to of the crop then on the ground may be removed, those 

 left as parent trees being preferably such as show a breast- 

 height diameter of about twelve to sixteen inches, and have 

 well-developed crowns which do not reach far down. The 

 largest fall of timber is permissible on soils not having a strong 

 tendency to the growth of weeds, and is demanded by dry soils 

 below the average in mineral strength, as in these latter locali- 

 ties the young seedlings derive most of their supplies of mois- 

 ture from the nightly precipitations of dew, and though tem- 

 porary shade does them no harm, the constant overshadowing 

 of numerous standards cuts off their requisite supply of 

 moisture in the form of dew and gentle showers of rain. The 

 work of reproduction is greatly aided by driving in cattle 

 and swine, and by the use of the rake in order to provide 

 the beech-nuts with a covering of soil. 



The fellings for strengthening tJie young growth, and for 

 effecting the total clearance of the mature crop should begin in 

 the year following the fall of the seed on dry soil, or where 

 considerations in regard to it have made a comparatively 

 dense overshadowing of the parent standards desirable 

 during the seed-year. But under ordinary circumstances 

 they are not begun until the seedling-growth is two years old. 

 The rate at which the gradual final clearance takes place 

 depends to a great extent on the vigour of the seedling crop, 

 for where this shows that fuller exposure to light, air, and 

 atmospheric precipitations are required, the standards should 

 be first removed. As it is during the final stages of the 

 gradual clearance that the greatest increment in girth takes 

 place on the standards, they are retained wherever, and so 

 long as, they do not appreciably injure the young crop. 

 The second fall usually takes place about two or three years 



