RULES FOR LOCATING CUTTINGS. 191 



sufficiently large area, 100 or 120 acres for instance, 

 the greater part of the evil described above will be 

 avoided, a result which ought to be considered quite 

 satisfactory enough for the time being. Later on 

 another step towards regularity ma/ be made, and 

 so on till a general regularity is attained ; but in 

 many forests it is hopeless to expect to arrive at this 

 regularity in a single rotation only. 



KULE II. Amongst the many dangers to which 

 young wood is subject, the most to be feared is that 

 which results from the carrying of the produce of 

 adjacent cuttings through it. Besides the damage 

 necessarily caused by opening out new roads, the 

 young crops are always in danger of being browsed 

 upon, as long as they are not high enough to be out 

 of the reach of the beasts of transport employed. 

 The extent of this mischief can easily be imagined 

 when we consider that the number of these roads 

 must be large, since, being situated on the bare soil 

 of the forest, they very soon become impracticable 

 and that, in addition to this, the produce of several 

 different cuttings is carried to the same point. 

 Hence each cutting ought to have, so far as possible 

 a separate system of transport roads ; and the estab- 

 lishment of good roads is one of the greatest improve 

 ments that can be made in a forest. The evil we 

 have referred to is still more to be dreaded in forests 

 of conifers, for the damage done to young trees 

 cannot be repaired by simply cutting them back, as 

 those species do not grow from the stool. 



When firewood alone is concerned, men might be 

 employed to carry it out to certain places fixed be- 



