CHAPTER V 



METHODS OF SYLVICULTURE 



THERE are recognised methods for obtaining the largest 

 production of timber from a given area, in any locality. 

 Where a wood is established by planting or sowing each indi- 

 vidual tree, so that each tree may grow to full maturity and be 

 felled, such a forest or wood is termed a high forest ; in other 

 words, a high forest is a wood in which each individual tree of 

 the main crop is allowed to attain its maximum development 

 before felling. 



Where, on the other hand, the wood is regenerated by the 

 growth of stool-shoots from the parent stump, the wood is termed a 

 coppice. 1 



Each of these systems is adapted to different purposes, and 

 each of them, or some modification or some combination of them, 

 must be selected according to the requirements of the locality. 

 Which system it is most advisable to adopt, will depend upon so 

 many factors, such as soil, climate, local demand for the produce, 

 etc., that an expert knowledge is required to decide. To do more 

 than to indicate the main principles which must be taken into 

 account in arriving at a decision is beyond the scope of this work ; 

 for detailed information, one or other of the larger textbooks should 

 be consulted. 



The following short notes may be of some assistance to the 

 man who wishes to make use of the outlines of practical forestry. 



i " Coppice " is also used as a popular term to designate any small plantation, 

 even though the trees composing it are of a species incapable of producing stool- 

 shoots, such as conifers, etc. So that it will be noted that there is a difference 

 between the meaning of the term ' ' coppice ' ' as used in forestry and as colloquially 

 applied. 



Another instance of confusion between scientific and popular terms is the term 

 "light-thinning." This, in forestry, means thinning to admit light; in ordinary 

 parlance it would mean the removal of a few trees only. 



