THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH-CLASS TIMBER. 227 



3. The Production oj High-Clans Oak, AsJt, and Larcli 

 Timlx')'. 



Firewood being of small value in Britain, timber trees should 

 be reared in such a manner that they yield the highest possible 

 percentage of high-class tinil)er and a correspondingly small 

 quantity of wood which is only lit for fuel. In this respect the 

 above-mentioned three species differ very considerably. Larch 

 produces naturally a high percentage of timber ; oak, on the 

 other hand, will spread out horizontally, if not prevented from 

 doing so, producing a short stem and large head and yield 

 only a poor percentage of timber accompanied by a high 

 proportion of firewood. Ash stands between larch and oak in 

 this respect ; and yet the rearing of these three species has 

 much in common. All are light-demanding, especially the 

 larch ; all are thin-crowned, and none of them improves the 

 yield capacity of the locality if raised in pure woods. The 

 best way of rearing them is to mix them with a shade-bearing, 

 full-crowned species. Of these, beech is the best. In mixture 

 with beech, the above-mentioned three timber trees find all 

 the advantages of a permanent and complete shading of the 

 ground, a heavy fall of leaves followed by a thick layer of 

 humus and freshness of the soil throughout summer. The 

 competing beech forces the other species to push upwards, 

 kills off their lower branches and causes them to produce 

 long, straight, clean boles of high value. Woods of this kind 

 require, however, the careful attention of the forester, especially 

 in the case of the oak. 



Oak and hcech stand sufficiently near each other as regards 

 their demands on the locality. No doubt oak prefers a some- 

 what moister soil than beech, but the latter accommodates 

 itself to the former ; as a matter of fact, they are growing 

 and thriving together over extensive areas. The princijial 

 difficulty to contend with is their relative height-growth. In 

 some localities the oak keeps pace with the beech, but in the 

 majority of cases the latter is faster growing after the first few 



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