64 DEVELOPMENT OF FOREST TREES. 



Trees raised in fully stocked compact woods do not live as 

 long as when <,m(j\v]i in the open. Moreover, in that case 

 various other important considerations must he taken into 

 account. After having weighed these, the forester decides on 

 the age limit which is most likelj' to realise the objects of 

 management. 



What the objects of management are, has been indicated in 

 the Introduction to this volume. They govern the deter- 

 mination of the rotation, or the time which elapses between 

 the formation and final cutting over of a wood. Whatever 

 motives may influence the determination of the rotation from 

 a sylvicultural point of view, it should be so fixed under the 

 method of natural regeneration as to admit of a proper 

 regeneration of the wood, whether by seed or coppice shoots ; 

 in other words, the wood must l^e cut over while the repro- 

 ductive power of the species is in an active condition. For 

 further details regarding the determination of the rotation 

 the reader is referred to Volume III. 



0. llcproductin' Poircr. 



The tendency to reproduce the species manifests itself 

 throughout nature ; in fact the energy devoted to reproduc- 

 tion is frequently stronger than that bestowed upon the 

 preservation of life. Forest trees, in obedience to this law, 

 produce seed during a considerable part of their life, and in 

 large quantities. 



In sylviculture, the reproduction of trees and woods is 

 effected in two distinct ways, namely : — 



{(I.) From seed. 



{}).) From shoots which spring from the stool or the roots, 

 followed, in many cases, by the division of the mother 

 plant. 



a. Iivpr<Hhicli<i)i from Sred. 

 This is the more common form of reproduction, and on it 

 depends the regeneration of high forest. 



