CHAPTER VI 



TENDING OF WOODS 



WHEN the young woods have been successfully formed they 

 must be carefully looked- after throughout their life till they 

 are ready to be cut down. They will always be liable to 

 damage by insects and fungi, and also by fire, while during 

 the first few years care must be taken to protect them from 

 frost, drought, cold winds, and weeds. Measures to be taken 

 against these dangers have already been mentioned in some 

 cases, while further details will be found in Chapters VIII, 

 IX, and X. 



During the first ten years or so the chief matter of impor- 

 tance is to cut down inferior species like aspen, birch, and 

 willows, which so often spring up naturally, as soon as they 

 threaten to injure the more valuable species. If coppice 

 shoots from a previously existing crop are found these must 

 also be kept down wherever they are outgrowing the young 

 trees. The best procedure is to work over all young woods 

 in succession, cutting out all such forest weeds at intervals of 

 three or four years till the woods enter the thicket stage. 

 As long as the material cut is of no value and the proceeds 

 do not pay the expenses, the operation may be called a 

 cleaning ; the material cut can be left lying on the ground. 

 When once the wood has formed a thicket, usually between 

 the twelfth and fifteenth year, it should be left alone till the 

 lower branches begin to fall off and the woods begin to enter 

 the pole stage. As soon as this occurs regular thinnings 

 commence ; a thinning being a cutting made for the benefit 

 of the remaining trees, while the produce cut is usually large 

 enough to have some value. 



