APPLICATION OF THE SELECTION METHOD. 103 



the selection method must be employed, only the 

 trees must be removed when they are still capable of 

 furnishing useful material. 



APPLICATION TO THE VARIOUS SPECIES. The 

 forests which require to be treated by this method 

 are stocked with silver fir, beech, spruce fir, larch, 

 and with various species of pine. The young plants 

 of all these trees require different degrees of light, 

 and thus the treatment must necessarily be modified 

 for each special case. 



SILVER FIR AND BEECH. The silver fir and the 

 beech are capable of withstanding the action of 

 cover for a very long while, and for many years 

 preserve the property of shooting up again with 

 vigour when they are uncovered ; an underwood is 

 always found under old trees, that may be utilised by 

 removing the latter one by one. In a forest of these 

 trees, the stock can remain throughout as full as 

 possible ; hence it must be so kept, for this result is 

 the chief object in view in forests subjected to this 

 system. Besides it has been constantly observed 

 that there is great danger in cutting out too much 

 from crops of silver fir : the wind is always rocking 

 the trees on the edges of the gaps made to and fro ; 

 if not blown down, they dry up standing, and 

 the blank gets ever larger and larger. Perhaps, 

 too, this may be the effect of an insolation which 

 trees that have hitherto lived in full leaf-canopy 

 are unable to resist. The selection method must 

 frequently be applied to silver fir forests above an 

 elevation of 2,000 feet if they are unsheltered on the 

 side from which dangerous winds blow. 



