APPLICATION OF THE METHOD. 79 



ings, but they will seldom be absolutely necessary, 

 and omitting them altogether has for the most part 

 no further result than that of simply throwing back 

 the silver fir for a time. 



Still more for this tree than for any other is it 

 necessary to thin carefully at first. As we have -seen, 

 it endures cover for a very long while, and we may 

 add that it becomes vigorous again as soon as light 

 is admitted. Now it is a very common thing for 

 trees to have their leading shoot broken off by snow, 

 hoar-frost, &c., and it is not without some difficulty 

 that such plants reform their crown ; which, how- 

 ever, always remains defective. If then care has been 

 taken to preserve all plants that are simply over- 

 topped by others, they will be able to replace those 

 that become damaged. Later on, thinnings of a 

 medium strength must be made so as to interrupt 

 the leaf-canopy in the least possible degree ; but with 

 the same end always in view, all suppressed trees, 

 not actually dead in the crown, must be preserved ; 

 moreover, their extraction could not possibly improve 

 the growth of the forest. The first to fall should be 

 stag-headed trees. A heavy thinning must never be 

 made, for this reason, that the growth of conifers is 

 seldom accelerated except at the expense of the 

 quality of the timber. 



REMAKKS. Wherever I have studied the silver fir, 

 I have come to the conclusion that it is in no way 

 urgent to begin thinnings early. It is a tree that 

 naturally grows in a state of dense canopy, which is 

 favourable to it at all ages. At the same time I have 

 assured myself of the lamentable effects of thinnings 



