I 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



The quality as well as quantity of timber produced should 

 be carefully considered in the management of every planta- 

 tion. In dealing with the following questions regarding 

 thinning, it may be well to state that the average planta- 

 tion will alone form the basis of remarks. 



1. At what age should thinning be commenced? The 

 necessity of thinning, few practical arboriculturists will care 

 to deny, and that whether the plantation be composed of 

 coniferous or hard- wooded trees. It is the abuse of the 

 practice that, in this country at least, is so to be condemned, 

 and I entirely dissent from those who consider that a coni- 

 ferous plantation should be left to Nature, or, in other 

 words, should thin itself. The argument that the natural 

 forests of America, the source from which we derive the 

 finest and best quality of timber, thinned themselves, is 

 often quoted ; but it should also be remembered that the 

 conditions of such forests are widely different from those of 

 our own, and that the waste of timber is immense, great 

 quantities, being destroyed in procuring what is required. 

 Although, however, we cannot adopt all the details of 

 Nature's practice, we can and we should admit the correct- 

 ness of the principle on which she acts, and by studying this 

 we learn much, and it is by acquiring a knowledge of her 

 economy, and where and when to apply assistance, that the 

 point of the whole argument rests. Natural regeneration, 

 unless in a limited number of cases, and particularly with 

 our least valuable classes of timber, is never, in this country, 

 likely to supersede artificial planting, and it has been con- 

 clusively proved in the Forest of Dean, that with our most 

 valuable timber-producing tree, the Oak, the latter system is 

 most to be encouraged. 



No thinning of young trees should take place until a com- 

 plete ground shade has been established ; and it is most 

 important for the welfare of the plantation, that a complete 

 overhead foliage covering be brought about at as early a 

 date as possible ofter planting. At what age this may take 

 place will entirely depend on the size of the plants used and 

 distance at which they were inserted in the ground, less so 

 on the quality of soil and other considerations. At a short 



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