A HANDBOOK FOR EUCALYPTUS PLANTERS. 21 



during the time the tree is dormant and loss of vitality by "bleeding" 

 will be avoided. 



In cutting, care should be exercised to slope the stump like the roof 

 of a house, so that the rain falling on it will be conducted off instead 

 of sinking in and permitting fungous growth to start. It is also 

 advisable to cut the stumps very low the first time, for succeeding cut- 

 tings will have to be higher to avoid the thickened growth caused by the 

 production of numerous coppice shoots. 



The advisability of thinning depends on the age which the grove will 

 be allowed to attain and the use to which the product is to be put. If 

 the grove is to be cut for firewood when six or seven years old, thinning 

 will not be advisable. But if the plantation is expected to produce tele- 

 phone or telegraph poles, piles or dimension material, which will require 

 longer to mature, a moderate thinning will be advisable during the win- 

 ter of the fifth or sixth year after the trees have been forced into height 

 by crowding. As soon as the competition for light is relieved by thin- 

 ning, the rate of height growth will decrease and that of diameter will 

 increase. 



The degree of thinning must always be determined by the condition 

 of the plantation and the character of the product desired. Groves 

 should never be opened enough to permit the growth of weeds or to 

 allow the slender trees to be thrown by the winds. Definite rules can 

 not be given in advance. Unless the planter has had experience enough 

 to guide his judgment, it will be advisable to secure an examination 

 of the plantation by a forester, which may be done under the conditions 

 of Section 4 of the State Forest Law. 



Pruning will be inadvisable generally. If the plantations are spaced 

 properly the formation of objectionable branches will be prevented by 

 lack of light. 



GROWTH. 



The measurements upon which the accompanying tables of growth 

 and yield are based were taken in different groves upon sample plots 

 aggregating approximately 10 per cent of the total area of Eucalyptus 

 plantations in California. Since blue gum has been planted com- 

 mercially to the exclusion of other eucalypts, the collection of data was 

 necessarily restricted to plantations of this species. Although the 

 growth of blue gum is the most rapid of the eucalypts planted in Cali- 

 fornia, the tables may be used to estimate the growth of other com- 

 mercial species. 



The portions of the State for which the tables may be regarded as 

 authoritative are : the Bay counties, the coast region near Santa Barbara, 

 the Los Angeles and Santa Ana valleys, and the coastal valleys near 



