186 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTUEE. 



utilising them in the formation of the reserve, or 

 simply considering them as an integral part of the 

 future reproduction according to the greater or less 

 interval of time that must elapse until the regenera- 

 tion is commenced. 



In the portions of the forest in which copsing 

 will continue, provisionally of course, to be the mode 

 of felling, it is obvious that cleanings and thin- 

 nings cannot consistently be neglected. On the 

 contrary, these operations acquire here a high 

 importance. On them depends to a great extent the 

 success of the conversion. Bearing in mind that 

 oak cannot well be grown pure as high forest, one 

 must also be careful to set free at the same time 

 seedlings of the auxiliary species. The result will 

 be a proper mixture of trees which grow naturally 

 with the oak. 



ANNUAL YIELD OF CONVERSIONS. The cultural 

 operations required in conversions bear a striking 

 resemblance to those of high forest and coppice, and 

 this fact is enough to show that the annual yield of 

 the regeneration cuttings should be based on volume, 

 while for the preparatory and provisional coppice 

 cuttings, area should form the basis on which the 

 annual yield is fixed. 



To sum up : the different cultural operations 

 required by a conversion, ought all to contribute in 

 effecting it as economically as possible. Conformably 

 with what has been already said in treating of high 

 forests, the end in view ought not to be the forma- 

 tion of entirely uniform crops, nor to sacrifice for 

 this uniformity trees whose preservation cannot 



