AMONG THE OAKS 105 



interfere with the continuous good development 

 of those stems which, subject to gradual elimina- 

 tion of the weaker or rather inferior specimens, 

 will, in due course of time, form the mature 

 harvest of timber to be reaped. 



Oak timber grown in this manner may gene- 

 rally be expected to attain maturity at about one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred years of age, 

 although reliable data are not yet available to 

 indicate anything like definitely what rotation of 

 oak in highwoods will prove most remunerative. 

 Such data are still exceedingly difficult to obtain 

 in Britain ; and, at best, they depend so much on 

 local circumstances as to market demand, com- 

 munications and transport, soil and situation, and 

 the like that it would perhaps be somewhat rash 

 to formulate any sort of general dictum about 

 such a matter as the most profitable age to fell 

 timber in highwoods. 



All throughout the first half of this period, 

 when the young woods are passing through the 

 thicket and the pole stages of growth, till the 

 young trees have been drawn up to near the 

 total height they can attain on the given soil 

 and situation, the cleanings and weedings and 



