108 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTURE. 



considerably reduce the value of the planks. But 

 care must be taken not to cut into the bark, for this 

 would cause the resin to ooze out, and would result 

 in the formation of decaying spots at least as 

 injurious as the dead branches. 



CHAPTEK IV. 



COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT 

 METHODS OF TREATING HIGH FOREST. 



IT may be said that the selection method is a 

 method of working high forest which most resembles 

 the action of nature. Its advantages are, that it 

 ensures the constant maintenance of the leaf-canopy, 

 and makes reproduction absolutely certain ; it 

 ensures too, better than any other method, a proper 

 admixture of different kinds of trees. Local condi- 

 tions frequently render it a matter of necessity. But 

 because thinnings are never made, the quantity of 

 the yield is less, and its quality is often inferior. 

 An exaggeration of the method may lead to the ruin 

 of the forest, for the yield is not fixed, and no order 

 whatever is observed in the exploitations. 



An absolute order in the exploitations was the 

 principal aim in the method known as " Tire etAire." 

 The length of the rotation preserved the existence 

 of the forest, but it only succeeded for certain trees, 

 and in mild or temperate climates. Here also the 

 produce obtained was inferior in quantity and in 

 quality, and the new crop after the regeneration cut- 



