PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



margins of plantations are rough and knotty, and sell at a 

 considerably lower figure when compared with those further 

 in, where the branches have been killed back gradually as 

 the trees increased in size. 



The same thing is markedly the case in young woods of 

 ash, oak, and chestnut, where they have been grown 

 sufficiently thick on the ground to kill off the lower branches, 

 and also to cause the trees to rise straight, clean, and taper- 

 ing. It is a well-known fact, too, that the timber of trees so 

 grown is far more elastic and realises a much higher price 

 than that of the same age, but grown under conditions where 

 pruning might have been a necessity. A case of this kind 

 came under my own notice only a short time ago in which 

 one-half of a plantation of hard- wooded trees realised fully 

 one-fourth more than the remaining half. It came about in 

 this way. Both ends and a large patch in the centre of the 

 wood had been thinned out severely for the purpose ot 

 planting game covert. The trees, standing thinly on the 

 ground, branched out and soon covered the open spaces 

 where underwood had been planted. In thinning the whole 

 plantation the trees on these particular parts were very 

 rough and knotty, and bore no comparison to those where 

 they had been left moderately thick on the ground, and in 

 consequence of which the boles were straight, clean, and 

 tapering. This case has special features, inasmuch as the 

 trees over the whole area were growing under exactly similar 

 conditions as to soil, shelter, etc., and were of the same age 

 and species. 



Great and irreparable damage has been done to woods 

 and plantations in this country by too heavy thinnings, by 

 <;ommencing the thinning at too early a period, and by 

 adopting the book method of leaving the trees at measured 

 distances apart and a stated number to the acre according 

 to the age of the plantation. Such rules can never be 

 expected to work satisfactorily, the size of trees depending 

 so much on the character of the soil, exposure of the wood- 

 land, and other peculiarities of the particular district in 

 ^vhich they are planted. 



Timely and judicious thinning should never be neglected, 



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