396 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



Steady careful workmen should only be employed in the thinning 

 of plantations, as, if they are not proficient and careful, great damage 

 may be done to the standing trees from the falling of the others. 



Each tree should be neatly pruned of its branches after it is felled, 

 and left in its full length and not cut across. Timber-merchants gener- 

 ally prefer purchasing trees which are not cut into lengths, as they cau 

 then turn them to any purpose that may suit them. 



In preparing thinnings for sale, all the trees shoxild be taken to the 

 roadsides and put into lots, each kind by themselves, and each size 

 and quality separately ; that is to say, inferior trees should be lotted by 

 themselves, and where it can be done conveniently, the trees in a lot 

 should be all of a size. The lot will look better in this way, and a higher 

 price will be got for it, as it will then be laid out according to the 

 probable wants of the purchasers. 



In preparing in this way, for public sale, all the lots should be 

 numbered. I usually do this with red paint. After the whole is done, 

 the forester should commence at No. 1 of the lots, and go over the 

 whole and value them, entering the number of the lot, the number 

 of trees in each lot, and the kind of timber, in a book, along with the 

 valuation of the same. The following statement will illustrate the way 

 in which I have generally done this : 



