168 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTURE . 



fell the standards, private proprietors viewing the 

 question from the stand-point of the ratio between 

 revenue and capital, Communes and the State oc- 

 cupying themselves chiefly with revenue without 

 reference to the capital which produces it, or more 

 simply, with the usefulness of the produce. It is 

 obvious that this inquiry concerns only the reserve 

 as capable of furnishing timber, the interest of no 

 proprietor ever leading him to grow to an advanced 

 age trees which are reserved purely with the object 

 of renewing the underwood with the aid of their 

 seed. 



In selecting trees for standards, a large proportion 

 of oak should be reserved. To this end every healthy 

 oak, to whatever class it belongs, should be preserved. 

 Those only must be felled which are mature, too 

 crowded, or in course of decay ; a few dead branches 

 in the crown, unless they are the principal branches, 

 do not constitute a sufficient reason for rejecting a 

 tree as a standard. A few branches may die, owing 

 simply to the isolation of the tree, without however 

 destroying its future promise. As for the trees of 

 other species, greater latitude must be observed in 

 giving them up to the axe, especially when they are 

 too close to oaks which have not completed their 

 full growth ; but, with the exception of the hornbeam, 

 they must, if possible, be maintained till they attain 

 maturity. The hornbeam must be reserved only so 

 far as its presence is required to keep up the under- 

 wood. If it is thought necessary to effect an equal 

 distribution of shade, it is often better to reserve a 

 few fine poles of aspen or birch, which will at least be 



