MIXED HARD-WOOD PLANTATIONS. 153 



crop upon the ground, should be gradually thinned 

 out as the hard-wood trees advance ; and not so 

 much attention should be paid to the thinning of 

 the firs among themselves, as to see that they do 

 not encroach too much upon the hard-wood trees ; 

 as soon as they do so, attention should be directed 

 to having such cut down immediately. 



As I have already said, when referring to the 

 thinning of fir plantations, — many foresters are in 

 the habit of thinning at stated intervals of from five 

 to ten years ; — but I again, in this place, beg to 

 caution all who wish to produce healthy hard-wood 

 plantations, against such a dangerous system of 

 forest management. Because, if a young plan- 

 tation, whether of hard-wood or firs, after re- 

 ceiving its first course of thinning, be allowed to 

 grow on undisturbed for a period of say eight 

 years, the trees in it must be in a very confused 

 and confined state, and certainly too much drawn 

 up ; and when such a plantation is thinned, in order 

 to give each tree relief, many must be taken down. 

 AVhen this is done, the whole plantation is sud- 

 denly cooled ; and if the ground be of a damp or 

 cold nature, many of the trees are blown down, and 

 such a plantation very often is ever after left a 

 mere wreck. 



The great art of thinning and rearing up of hard- 

 wood plantations is, to go carefully and regularly 

 through them every third or fourth year at farthest, 



