68 ELEMENTS OP SYLVICULTURE. 



Whatever be the conditions of growth, the pro- 

 duction of natural seedlings is only a question of 

 time and of judicious caution. 



With self-sown seedlings, there is neither loss of 

 time nor loss in growth, because, while waiting for 

 a seed crop to appear on the ground, the yield is 

 sustained by the reserves, which are thinned out 

 only after the appearance of the seedlings, and until 

 that time form of themselves almost a complete 

 crop. 



Artificial re-stocking, never possible except at a 

 high cost, frequently produces crops that have no 

 promise of a future ; even in those that succeed best, 

 the individual trees are much too equal in vigour ; 

 thinnings in such crops are extremely difficult opera- 

 tions, and shake the confidence of those forest officers 

 who feel most sure of their own powers. 



The three successive regeneration cuttings must 

 invariably be made. 



The primary cutting should be made close on soils 

 that are merely moist, where there is not much fear 

 of a rank grassy vegetation springing up (this will be 

 generally in the habitat of the sessile-flowered oak) ; 

 it should be made very close on damp, wet soils, 

 containing a large quantity of clay and vegetable 

 mould, where we may expect long grass (generally 

 in the habitat of the peduncled oak). 



If the crop of oak seedlings pre-exists on the ground, 

 the primary cutting must still be made rather close, 

 in order to ensure the production and maintenance 

 of seedlings of beech and hornbeam, the natural 

 companions of the oak ; for the young beech is delicate, 



