CHAPTER XIV. 



TIMBER FOREST WITH COPPICE. 



THIS is a further modification of the last system, 

 resorted to when it is desired to secure heavier 

 timber than is to be obtained from close forest, 

 by which term is understood a forest in which the 

 branches meet overhead. The forest having been 

 subjected to the ordinary thinning until the trees 

 have attained nearly their full height, is then sub- 

 jected to a sharp thinning to the extent of 50 or 

 even 75 per cent. The remaining trees, bathing in 

 the full sunlight, and no longer crowding each 

 other, soon develop a broad spreading crown, 

 with proportionate increase in girth of trunk. 

 And provision having previously been made to 

 guard against the trees being drawn up too rapidly 

 for their strength, they will now develop that 

 ample girth which they would have attained had 

 they grown from the first in free space, with the 

 additional advantage of combining height and 

 straightness with great girth. 



