APPLICATION OF THE METHOD. 65 



no fear of seeing the oak overtopped by the hornbeam, 

 except perhaps by stool shoots. On the other hand, 

 we sometimes come across spots where the hornbeam 

 is very rare, in the midst of a complete crop of oak 

 seedlings. In such a case, we must save the horn- 

 beam by removing a few oak. 



THINNINGS. The thinnings must follow the gene- 

 ral rules, and must be of moderate strength. We 

 have already seen that the hornbeam does not live 

 so long as the oak ; trees of the former species must 

 be removed as they begin to die off. The leaf-canopy 

 being thus gradually opened out, new hornbeam 

 seedlings will make their appearance ; they will go 

 on growing as more and more light reaches them, 

 and will form a constant protection to the boles of 

 the oak. This is what occurs in nature, and it is a 

 valuable hint with which to refute the systematic 

 idea of a regular double regeneration of the hornbeam 

 during one rotation of oak. For besides the difficulty 

 of obtaining a new general seeding, there would 

 always be a risk of the oak covering itself with epi- 

 cormic branches, and going to decay during the whole 

 time that must elapse before the new generation of 

 hornbeam can rise up high enough to protect the boles 

 of the oak. Besides this, a certain number of horn- 

 beam will always survive for a whole rotation of oak, 

 and will suffice to yield seed enough to keep up the 

 mixture when the crop is fit for felling. 



V. TEEATMENT OF HIGH FOEEST OF BEOAD- 

 LEAVED SPECIES MIXED. 



Forests are frequently met with in which ash, 



