ALLOTMENT OF WOODS TO PERIODS. 311 



A. Division of Forest into Fixed Annual Coupes. 



Under this method the area of the forest is divided into as 

 many annual coupes, as there are years in the rotation, and 

 each coupe marked on the ground. Every year one coupe is 

 cut over, giving the annual yield of final returns, to which 

 must be added the necessary thinnings in the other coupes. 



The size of each annual coupe is =^, if the area is at once 



re-stocked, or = —^, — , if each coupe lies fallow for s vears. 



In either case, A may represent the actual or reduced area. 



The merits of this method are small. It aims, more directly 

 than any other method, at the establishment of a regular series 

 of age gradations, which becomes normal after one rotation, if 

 the division of the area is based upon the reduced area of the 

 several parts ; but it achieves this object only by heavy 

 sacrifices, because the returns during the first rotation must 

 be very uneven, unless at the outset a proper proportion and 

 distribution of age classes existed. The method takes no 

 notice of disturbances, nor of the state of the market ; hence, 

 it is very rigid. Above all, it neglects to a considerable extent 

 the fundamental principle, that the most important measure 

 must always be the establishment of the normal increment 

 within the shortest possible period of time. 



The method is applicable to coppice woods, coppice with 

 standards, and, with modifications, to selection forests. For 

 all other methods of high forests it is (|uite unsuited, except, 

 perhaps, for clear cutting with a very low rotation. 



B. Allotment of Woods to the DiflPerent Periods of 

 One Rotation. 



In order to remove the great rigidity of the fixed annual 

 coupes and to obtain a method, which is suitable for the treat- 

 ment of high forest, especially if managed under the shelter- 

 wood sj'stems, the several woods comprising a forest are 



