METHOD OF THINNINGS. 31 



delicate trees, and always advisable in localities 

 exposed to frost. Another reason for this measure 

 is not to encumber the ground with too much 

 produce at a time, and thus to lessen the damage 

 done to the young plants by the timber operations. 



If the primary cutting was made close and several 

 years elapse without a fall of seed, the crowns of the 

 trees may again meet over head and render it neces- 

 sary to re-establish the original state. We cannot call 

 this a secondary cutting, but rather a fresh primary 

 cutting. Similarly if, after an open primary cutting, 

 the soil becomes covered with brushwood and scrub, 

 before seed falls, it will be necessary to clear all this 

 undergrowth away, when one can foretell a year of 

 seed. 



FINAL CUTTING. At length, when there is no 

 longer any fear of frost or heat injuring the crop of 

 seedlings, we may proceed to make the final cutting. 

 The proper time to do this is when the young plants 

 cover the soil everywhere, and have reached the 

 thicket stage. 



The final cutting consists in taking down the 

 reserves left after the secondary cuttings. As far as 

 regards the regeneration, it ought to be complete ; 

 and though some spots may not yet be sown, still 

 the trees stan ding there should be cut down, and the 

 places artificially filled up. The latter step will be 

 unnecessary unless these blanks are too large to be 

 rapidly covered over by the growth of the neighbour- 

 ing crowns; to undertake to re-stock all the empty 

 places, however small, would be at once useless and 

 expensive. In the .same way it would be no good 



