70 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTUKE. 



The object of this cutting is to give the young 

 plants more light, while at the same time it protects 

 the soil from being dried up, which the seedlings 

 alone would be powerless to prevent, and it hinders 

 the growth of long grass, which must still be con- 

 sidered as a source of danger to the young crop. 



Before undertaking this operation it is a requisite 

 condition that the seedlings be sufficiently numerous 

 to form a thicket at the end of a short time (ten years, 

 for instance),, and that they be at least three years 

 old ; in a forest of oak and hornbeam, however, it 

 may be necessary to make a light secondary cutting, 

 when the crop of oak seedlings alone exists, in which 

 case it will answer the purpose of a primary cutting 

 for the hornbeam, a species that does not easily put 

 in an appearance under a very close cutting. 



It is frequently advisable to prune off the epicormic 

 branches of oak and hornbeam ; on the former, to 

 prevent the deterioration of the bole ; on the latter, 

 because by lowering the cover they injure the seed- 

 lings beneath. 



The final cutting must not be made until the seed- 

 lings have clearly reached the thicket stage, suffice 

 by themselves to keep the ground moist, and have 

 nothing more to fear from spring frosts. 



Considered solely from the point of view of regene- 

 ration of the forest, the final cutting should remove 

 all the reserves ; every oak, however, that is capable 

 of prospering another thirty years at least, must be 

 preserved ; the damage they may cause to the seedling 

 crop is more than compensated for by their enhanced 

 usefulness, due to their increased girth. Moreover, 



