124 THE NATURE AND PRACTICE 



might be properly balanced, and that the wind 

 might not have much power upon them. In this 

 state I left them for two years, when I again 

 examined the trees, and finding that they had 

 improved in a remarkable manner, I again set to 

 work and gave them a final pruning. 1 have sel- 

 dom found any plantation make such an improve- 

 ment as this one did during the two years that I 

 allowed it to recover itself before giving it a final 

 course of pruning : this was owing to the gradual 

 manner in which I thinned out a few trees, and 

 cut off a part of the branches as a preparation for 

 pruning. This is what every forester ought par- 

 ticularly to attend to ; for, had I foolishly and 

 thoughtlessly commenced to prune severely at first, 

 it was quite possible that every tree in the planta- 

 tion might have been thrown into an unhealthy 

 state, — which, indeed, I have more than once seen 

 done ;— but by having gone cautiously to work, 

 I had the satisfaction, at the end of two years from 

 the time that I first examined those trees, to find 

 them not only stift", healthy, tall trees, but in a most 

 vigorous state of growth also ; and, finding them in 

 such a state, I pruned them upon the same prin- 

 ciple as stated m the former case — that is, I pruned 

 off all the branches to one-third the height of the 

 tree in each case, in order to form a clean trunk ; 

 and above this, among the top branches, I merely 

 shortened such as had the appearance of gaining 



