EXAMPLE OF A CONVEESION. 187 



cause any real damage and which have everything 

 to gain by being left standing. Perfect uniformity 

 is besides undesirable. In the case of a portion 

 of forest which forms an unbroken leaf-canopy, it 

 is undoubtedly necessary to regenerate it, if the 

 majority of the trees are ripe for felling ; to let it 

 stand any longer would be running the risk of seeing 

 the timber going to decay. Hence the length of the 

 rotation should be so determined as to escape this 

 danger and to obtain timber of the size most generally 

 in demand. But it will never be long enough to 

 produce timber of the size required for certain special 

 purposes. This demand must be met by means of 

 trees selected from among the most vigorous and 

 allowed to grow on for another period or two. 

 Similarly, to obtain the largest sum of utility, those 

 trees should be re served which have not yet attained 

 the minimum girth desired, and of which a few can 

 perhaps live on to the end of the new rotation. 



Thus understood, want of uniformity in a crop is 

 desirable in every respect. The forest is really 

 made to furnish the maximum of utility, and is all 

 the finer for it. We become more strongly attached 

 to it ; we raise in it true monuments depending 

 solely on natural forces, which we are not liable to 

 see multiplied to an abusive extent. Taking even 

 private forests, there is none in which the interest 

 of the proprietor should not make him preserve a 

 few large trees. Who has not seen a few large trees 

 suffice to increase very sensibly the value of a 

 cutting, which, without them, would never have 

 found purchasers, or would have sold for a mere 



