358 NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED. 



different requirements (Pinus longifolia and the grey oak, deodar 

 and oak, &c., for example) and all other conditions are favourable 

 The uniform nature of the crops will enable the forester to favour 

 the more extensive distribution of the more valuable of them, while 

 utilising the other to shelter the ground. 



(C) If there are more than two strong gregarious species, we 

 not only get a more complex case of hypothesis B, but the uni- 

 form method itself generally ceases to be applicable owing to the 

 difficulty of reconciling the conflicting requirements of so many 

 different masterful species. 



(D) When the crop is composed of numeious species none of 

 which has any tendency to become gregarious, the uniform me- 

 thod will be altogether inapplicable. 



To resume what precedes, the special combination of circum- 

 stances which constitute a justification for adopting the uniform 

 method seldom occurs in India. When it does occur, the method 

 will receive its widest application in pure forests and in mixed 

 forests composed principally of a single valuable gregarious species, 

 only a restricted one in forests consisting of more than one grega- 

 rious species, and none at all in other classes of mixed forests. 

 Provided the gradients are not too steep, or the soil or aspect 

 unfavourable, or the elevation too high, it is generally extremely 

 well adapted for Pinus longifolia pure or mixed with Quercus in- 

 cana, for Quercus incana and semecarpifolia pure, and for deodar 

 pure or mixed (especially with oak). Under certain circumstances 

 it may be applied to forests of sal, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Mesua 

 ferrea, &c. Occasionally, but very rarely, it may suit even teak. 



One great and, at present, insurmountable obstacle to the adop- 

 tion of the method in this country, in many tracts for which it is 

 otherwise suitable, is the fact that in respect of timber the demand 

 is usually limited to only one or two of the component species, 

 and in respect of both timber and firewood it is equal to only a 

 small fraction of the annual production. No doubt trees that 

 cannot be sold, but must be got rid of for cultural reasons, may 

 be killed by girdling and allowed to rot and crumble to dust staud- 

 ino- ; but this is a method of getting over the difficulty that is prac- 

 ticable only where the majority of the trees composing the forest 

 are saleable. 



Where the uniform method is applicable, its employment brings 

 with it many very important advantages. As the work of regene- 

 ration is not allowed to spread over the whole forest at once, but is 

 in each year confined to a definite area which is only a very small 



