112 NATURAL REGENERATION 



the stand is 50 to 60 years old there are careful thinnings in the poles 

 and the removal of dry, suppressed trees and final felhngs with light 

 thinnings in the pole stands and the gradual ehmination of the beech. 

 According to the working plan : 



"1. In the spring, one shall carefully reconnoiter the windfall, dry trees, dead trees, 

 or those declining in vigor; the volume shall be determined from the volume table. 

 Under the head of defective wood should be included all trees seriously defective, such 

 as rotten, fungus infected, or very crooked trees, or those exuding resin or showing 

 cancer." 



This clean-up in the almost mature stands is in effect an improve- 

 ment felling. In the forest of Malmifait, under the heading "Improve- 

 ment Fellings," the working plan prescribed the following: 



"The cultural rules to apply will vary according to the working group. In the third 

 group (the first to be regenerated so far as the mature reserves are concerned, which 

 must be zealously kept to furnish most of the future seed trees), it is necessary that only 

 dead and dying trees be cut and everywhere on those areas where it is impossible to find 

 suitable seed trees in the poles; on those areas all the trees are defective or hollow. In 

 the poles the young trees of desirable species, which must furnish the future seed trees, 

 will be freed rather energetically and prepared for seeding purposes along with the mature 

 reserves and especially when these reserves are lacking; moreover the thinnings will be 

 very fight so as not to expose the soil; otherwise the seeding would be started (prema- 

 turely) along with briars and grass which would form, later in the third period, an ob- 

 stacle to natural reproduction. The same cultural rules will be applied in the fourth 

 group, but with even greater moderation; it wiU be possible to sacrifice some of the old 

 trees which are hollow or in mediocre condition in favor of good stems, stiU young, 

 existing in the poles; but here, also, the thinning as a whole win be fight. . . . In the 

 young growth of the fifth group, where old reserves are lacking or few in number, the 

 oak must be freed, and the good beech as required; there should be no hesitation, in the 

 areas where the oak is the dominant species and where the beech is insufficient, in 

 sacrificing the former of these two species to assist the latter, so as always to make sure 

 of a proper mixture of these two species. 



"Finally, in the compartments of the second group where it will be necessary to pass 

 most often, the special cutting scheme provides for four fellings instead of two, for the 

 other groups, during the last 26 years of the period; the improvement cutting will take the 

 form of cleanings, liberation cuttings, or thinnings, according to the condition of the 

 stands; besides it is necessary, wherever the regeneration does not take hold, to assist 

 the seeding by means of wounding the soil and to complete it by plantations of oak 

 and even beech where necessary. It is essential to continually see to it at the start that 

 the seedlings and plants are not choked by the briars . . . and later on that the 

 promising individuals of the good species should not be hindered in their growth by 

 secondary species. These operations are especially delicate. So far as possible they 

 will actually be done by the employees as betterments (improvement work). They 

 must be carefully and progressively executed at short intervals on the same ground. 

 Often, especially at the start, it would be better to cut out the weed trees gradually 

 rather than to remove them all at the same time, which would uncover the seedlings 

 too brusquely. . . . Often it will be preferable to kill the weed trees by girdling 

 rather than to cut them level with the ground, which would favor the production of 

 vigorous sprouts, able to very rapidly interfere with the young growth of valuable 

 species." 



