APPENDIX. II 



area, the more patent is their inferiority in height."' Again G-azin 

 states : " In trees suitably spaced the height increment is propor- 

 tionate to the diameter, which latter is subserved by subsequent 

 thinnings." Experiments carried out by the forest branch of 

 Munich University went to prove that " when thinnings were 

 carried out freely, the development in height was relatively much 

 greater than the diametrical increment and at any rate during a 

 certain period in the growth of crops, the heaviest degree of 

 thinning produced the loftiest and cleanest boles." The whole 

 science of thinning is crystallised in the words of the International 

 Congress of Silviculture in 1900. " All struggle between neigh- 

 bouring stums must be avoided, for it is always at the expense of 

 growth that it takes place. The formation of the stems of the 

 prospective crop, in as large numbers as possible, must be assisted 

 by gradual freeing beginning at an early age. When they are 

 formed they must be successively thinned out to enable them to 

 develop their crowns and root systems." 



It must not, however, be presumed from what has been written 

 above that heavy thinnings are necessarily advocated. The 

 method of thinning different species will vary considerably ; the 

 pines live in a canopy, open but evenly distributed, quite a 

 different style from isolated trees. The deodar grows in a 

 moderately dense wood, but the individual crowns must be given 

 sufficient room for their proper development, if too crowded they 

 become attenuated, the trees develop a sickly appearance, and 

 increment practically ceases. The silver fir loves tranquillity, it 

 amplifies its foliage slowly and never much ; it likes coolness and 

 freshness and suffers from the introduction of sun and wind, it 

 loves a close canopy and this must at all costs be maintained. In 

 the case of spruce it should be remembered that the production 

 of clean stems is essential if the highest price is to be obtained 

 for the produce. The Indian spruce has longer fibres than any 

 other spruce in the world, and there is a great future for clean 

 slowly grown stems of this species. The wood should therefore 



