142 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



Thinning of Plantations. 



This process may be justly called the crucial one, the one 

 that wisely carried out will lead to success and profit, and 

 unwisely carried out to failure, or to partial success only. 

 The period of first thinning will depend upon the strength 

 and development of the plantation, but perhaps twelve 

 years may be taken as a likely one, when the remaining 

 trees will be benefited by more light and air. The process 

 is simple, but nevertheless must be carried out with dis- 

 cretion, and this, and every successive thinning, should be 

 conducted by the forester himself. 



The great and guiding principle to bear in mind is, that 

 the best trees those most likely to reach a useful maturity 

 should be left, and those which, by overcrowding these, 

 interfere with their development, removed. In the first 

 thinning it will be unnecessary to remove more than those 

 which have died from drip and lack of light, or which show 

 signs of disease, or are too near to better trees. Probably 

 two to three hundred per acre will suffice. The question, 

 too, will arise at the same time, especially in the case of a 

 larch plantation, whether the remaining trees should be 

 brushed, i.e., have the lateral branches removed, or whether 

 they should be left to fall off when their functions have 

 been performed. We are inclined to discourage brushing, 

 as it no doubt leads to disease through the bark being rup- 

 tured by the process. The wounds caused thereby form a 

 fitting receptacle for the floating germs of the Peziza //'//- 

 kommii, and if these once become established the future of 

 the plantation is doomed. Larch branches, in a close plan- 

 tation, break off readily, so that some foresters prefer breaking 

 them off with a blunt instrument. This may doubtless be done 

 often with impunity, but we think it better to be on the safe 

 side. The use of a sharp edge permits of no excuse whatever. 



