461 REARING OF THE ESTABLISHED CROP. 



\vith blanks, the forester must step in and bring about the proper 

 degree of density. 



CROP TOO DENSE. When standing too close together, the young 

 plants not only press up against one another above ground and 

 prevent the development of a sufficiently large assimilating surface 

 in each individual, but also rob each other of nutriment in the 

 soil and hence remain starved. If this state of things is allowed to 

 continue too long, especially in a poor soil, the yonng plants be- 

 come permanently weakened, and no amount of subsequent thin- 

 ning out will do them any good. If they are broad-leaved species, 

 they will generally recover, but only after heavy expenditure of 

 time, money and labour that might have been avoided by timely 

 intervention on the part of the forester. To provide against over- 

 crowding the young crop must be thinned out as soon as it is. 

 observed to form too close a thicket. The superfluous plants 

 should be pulled up or dug out by the roots, if they can be utilised 

 in filling up open places elsewhere ; otherwise (and in this case, 

 they will be selected from among the weakest stems) they should 

 be cut off close to the ground with strong shears of the pattern 

 represented in Fig. 116. A strong, sharp sickle or the forester's 

 pruning knife (Fig. 121) will also answer, but will not be so ex- 

 peditious The operation should be repeated periodically as often 

 as overcrowding occurs again by the expansion of the surviving 

 individuals. If the crowded state has been allowed to continue for 

 some time and the stems have become excessively lanky, the 

 necessary relief should be given very gradually and cautiously, 

 otherwise the thin isolated stems would not only bend down, even 

 under their own weight, but suffer from too sudden exposure to 

 atmospheric influences and light, the portion above ground grow- 

 ing too fast for the roots. But oftenest the best thing to do is to 

 clear parallel paths about three feet wide and a few feet apart 

 through the young crop, and trust to a sufficient number of the 

 plants along the edges recovering their vigour and growing up 

 into strong saplings. In some cases of very heavy overcrowding 

 another set of similar paths may be cleared at right angles to the 

 first, thereby cutting up the young crop into a number of little 

 squares. Where broad-leaved species have been cut back in clear- 

 ing the paths, the shoots they send up may be stronger and grow 

 up more vigorously than the seedlings in the preserved lines or 

 squares, as the case may be, and thus help in forming the future 

 forest. The clearing of parallel paths hence admits of two pos- 

 sibilities, one at least of which is, humanly speaking, sure to be 



