METHOD OF THINNINGS. 33 



thicket is thoroughly established the soil is not 

 sufficiently covered and is apt to deteriorate ; and 

 lastly, because the amount of timber produced is 

 increased by the further development of the reserves, 

 which are too scattered and too high to cause any 

 material damage to the young plants by the action of 

 their cover. 



It may be safely said that an interval of twenty to 

 twenty-five years between the primary and final cut- 

 ting is an average time for the complete regeneration 

 of a forest ; that there is always much to gain by pro- 

 ceeding with caution and prudence, and much to lose 

 by trying to go too fast. In fact, one must take into 

 account the years of seed over which one has no 

 control, and remember that germination, as well the 

 as maintenance of the young seedlings, is exposed to 

 many accidents which it is often impossible to foresee 

 or to prevent. It has been often said that by giving 

 up such a long time to regeneration, a clear loss in 

 the yield was bound to result, and that it was more 

 advantageous and more economical to have recourse 

 to artificial methods of re-stocking. This is an error 

 against which one cannot speak too strongly ; arti- 

 ficial re-stocking always involves an outlay that 

 cannot be put down at less than 30s. an acre, and this 

 put out at interest would amount to a good sum at 

 the end of a long rotation. Letting alone the fact 

 that natural sowing costs nothing, we may say that 

 there is no loss in the yield, because each reserve 

 left after the primary cutting grows all the faster 

 from having more space to develope in, and this 

 extra production is the more useful, as it is obtained 

 chiefly by an increase of diameter. 



D 



