CHAPTER VI 



THINNING AND PRUNING 



THE question of thinning plantations has probably received 

 more attention, and been the subject of greater controversy 

 amongst British foresters and owners of woodlands, than any 

 other branch of the subject. In the early days of English 

 forestry it does not appear that thinning was particularly 

 attended to. Evelyn makes no mention of thinning beyond 

 that of the seed-bed, and which consisted in drawing the 

 best plants out of the thick patches in order to fill up the 

 thin spots. This refers more particularly to the oak, which 

 was to be thinned out to a distance of 40 feet, and " the 

 intervals planted with ash, which may be felled either for 

 poles or timber, without the least prejudice of the oak." This 

 process, whatever it may be, doubtless corresponded to the 

 thinning of the present day, but was probably not carried 

 out in a very systematic way. Most of Evelyn's remarks, 

 however, apply to coppice with standards, in which thinning 

 does not play any precise role. 



In the early part of the nineteenth century, writers on 

 forestry appear to have held very diverse views on the 

 subject, but no general principles appear to have been 

 recognised concerning it. Pontey, Sang, Monteath, etc., all 

 pay special attention to thinning, but none of them leave 

 their readers very much wiser than they were before. 

 Monteath believed in commencing to thin mixed plantations 

 before the trees were more than 6 feet high, and in such 

 a way as to remove all the firs gradually by the time the 

 hardwoods were 12 or 15 feet, and leave the hardwoods 

 at 10 feet apart. Pruning was then to commence, and 



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