WORKING-CIRCLES. 1 1 9 



the quality of the soil is variable. They may be larger in 

 broad-leaved than in Conifer woods, where danger from wind, 

 insects, and fire is greatest. On the Continent the smallest 

 compartments for highwoods are for Spruce. Boundaries may 

 be 6 to 8 ft. wide in copses, and about 10 or 12 ft. in high- 

 woods ; but if intended for use as roads for extracting timber, 

 they should be from 18 to 30 ft. wide. Main roads are 

 broadest in Conifer woods, and should run in the same direc- 

 tion as the prevailing most dangerous wind (see Fig. 29). 



When the whole woodland area has been broken up into a 

 continuous series of convenient compartments, it should then 

 be divided into Working- Circles, each comprising within itself 

 the whole of the regular series of annual or periodic falls of the 

 woods subject to same treatment, and forming a complete self- 

 contained series of crops in more or less regular age -classes. 

 Thus, while the compartments are the units of area in the 

 woodlands, upon which any methodical scheme of management 

 must be based, each working-circle (if there be more than one) 

 includes as many compartments as form a complete series of 

 crops of all age-classes up to maturity. It is not necessary to 

 have a separate working- circle for each kind of wood grown, 

 the, custom being to form separate working - circles only for 

 broad-leaved trees, for Conifers, and for woods under different 

 kinds of treatment. Thus, on a large estate, one might have a 

 working- circle for simple coppice, a second for stored coppice, 

 a third for broad-leaved highwoods of Beech, Oak,. Ash, Syca- 

 more, Elm, &c., and a fourth for Conifers (Pine, Larch, Spruce, 

 Silver Fir, Douglas Fir, &c.). Where ornamental woods in the 

 vicinity of a house occur to any extent, they can be excluded 

 to form a separate working- circle, and can be treated by means 

 of occasional falls (p. 82, often called selection fellings). 



Such principles are not as yet much acted on in this country, 

 but they will have to be adopted if a national scheme of afforesta- 

 tion is begun, the first things necessary being to lay off a satis- 



