FELLING RULES. 237 



i. The woodcutter must always endeavour to throw every stem, so 

 that hy its fall it will do the least amount of damage to the 

 forest growth and felled timber around it. 



The attention of the woodcutter in this respect is particularly 

 necessary in the case of the final stage in shelter-woods, 

 selection-fellings and in all reproduction-areas, and wherever 

 large trees standing over poles or saplings are to be felled. 



In order as fully as possible to carry-out the rule, the direc- 

 tions of the forest officials should be closely followed, so that the 

 young growth may be injured as little as possible. To secure 

 this object, it may be necessary to lop all the branches from 

 large trees before felling them. 



The skill and attention of the woodcutters are nowhere put to 

 such a test, as in the removal of large trees from over poles and 

 saplings in the natural regeneration-fellings under the group 

 system. The more susceptible to damage the young crop, the 

 more careful should the woodcutter be, and the more important 

 it is to eftect such fellings gradually, that is to distribute them 

 over several years, and to choose a season for the felling when 

 the young growth is least brittle and least liable to damage by 

 the unavoidable accidents contingent to fellings : in any case 

 such fellings must never be undertaken during frost. 



Secondary fellings over young seedlings are also highly 

 dangerous to the young growth, and should be efi"ected only 

 when sufficient snow is on the ground to protect the plants. 



The lopping of branches from standing trees may secure 

 several objects. It sometimes assists the fall of a tree in a 

 certain direction to lop the branches from the opposite side of 

 the tree, but the chief reason for lopping the branches is that the 

 tree in its fail may do as little injury as possible to the young 

 growth. 



Whether this lopping is necessary or not depends on several 

 circumstances. In the first place, it must be remembered that 

 it is not the stem, but the crown of the tree which may do serious 

 injury to the young plants. If, therefore, it can be arranged to 

 throw a tree with its crown on a blank uustocked with young 

 growth, there is no need of lopping its branches. In such cases 

 several trees may be thrown with their crowns on the same blank. 



