398 REGENERATION BY MEANS OP CULMS. 



the attention and consideration it deserves, and the restrictions and 

 conditions it imposes have led many foresters to adopt longer 

 intervals than that of a single year between the successive exploi- 

 tations. In adopting these long intervals the essence of every 

 method, whatever its detailed procedure might be, is to preserve 

 only the shoots of the current year (these being easily recognised 

 by the least experienced), and, in order to compensate for the small 

 number of parent shoots left, to give the clumps sufficient time to 

 recover from the overcuttirig effected at each exploitation. Thus 

 the question to be decided in each case resolves itself into deter- 

 mining the interval at which the exploitations should recur, that is 

 to say, the length of the rotation. 



A rest of only 2 years would seldom suffice for the complete 

 recovery of the overcut clumps, unless indeed the demand was 

 considerably under the amount of the annual production. As far 

 as can be judged from present experience, a third year of rest 

 is usually ample to restore the clumps to their normal vigour and 

 rate of production. A longer rest than one of 3 years is not per- 

 missible in view of the overcrowding that must enivitably follow 

 with its highly undesirable consequences.* 



As said above, the essence of every system of exploitation at 

 longer intervals than that of a single year is to spare only the 

 shoots of the youngest generation. As these may come up irregu- 

 larly, preserving only them and no others can never guarantee an 

 effective distribution of the shoots or the securing of vigorous 

 and healthy parents for the coming generation. Moreover, if a 

 clump is weak or has not, from some accidental cause, produced 

 many shoots during the past season, the removal of all the large 

 shoots of preceding generations cannot but prove disastrous to the 

 future of the clump. A better plan would hence be to preserve 

 in each clump a certain fixed number of shoots and to select them 

 outside the latest-produced generation as well, if the full number 

 of desirable and properly spaced shoots cannot be found amongst 

 these last. In following this procedure clumps containing not 

 more than the fixed number of shoots to be left will not be 

 touched at all, and the work of the cutter can be at once checked 

 by the mere counting of the shoots left standing. 



* The practice has some times been adopted of allowing cutting for two years 

 running, with only a single year of rest before beginning work again, and in order to 

 prevent the entire disappearance of the current generation of shoots, these are priced 

 higher than older shoots. Such a system is, however, only an ingenious device for 

 increasing the revenue at the expense of the production, while making a pretence of 

 aiming at conservation and scientific culture. 



