GENERAL IDEAS. 17 



medullary rays ; they all possess, though in different 

 degrees, the faculty of reproduction by shoots or 

 suckers. 



The conifers have persistent leaves, except the 

 larch, which sheds them every year ; the leaves are 

 linear, and resemble needles ; generally, it is at the 

 axil of those only which surround the growing point 

 that buds, capable of developing into branches, are 

 found ; thus the ramification is regular. The wood 

 of conifers is composed exclusively of fibres and 

 medullary rays ; vessels are completely absent. 

 The wood contains resinous juices. The trees, at 

 least those of Europe, do not throw up shoots from 

 the stool. 



EXPLOITABLE TIMBER. As we have said before, a 

 forest is exploitable when it has attained its 

 maximum of utility for its proprietor. This 

 maximum of utility may be considered from two 

 principal points of view : firstly, the greatest 

 usefulness of the timber itself, and secondly, the 

 greatest profit that can be derived from the forest 

 considered as an investment, 



Speaking generally, as long as the wood remains 

 sound, the larger a tree is, the more useful is the 

 produce that it yields. For in this case, besides 

 being suited for a greater variety of purposes, there 

 is less waste in working it up. Hence, the maximum 

 usefulness of timber coincides with the age of 

 maturity, that is to say, the age beyond which the 

 timber, if unfelled, would run the risk of becoming 

 unsound. 



To fell the trees of a forest one by one as they 

 c 



