164 KEARING UP AKD THINNING 



The three different systems are these : — First, 

 that of sowing the Acorns or seed at once upon 

 the ground where it is intended the trees are to 

 grow up and become timber : second, that of trans- 

 planting the trees from the nurseries in the usual 

 way, and, in one year after being planted, when 

 their roots are established in the ground, cutting 

 each tree over by the surface of the earth, and 

 allowing the stump so cut to stand for two or 

 three years, when a number of young shoots are 

 produced immediately from the earth, strong 

 enough to allow a choice to be made of one to 

 stand for a permanent tree, when all the others are 

 destroyed : and, third, the system of planting the 

 young trees in pits, as is usually done, and allow- 

 ing them to come away in their own natural way. 

 Each of these systems has its peculiar advantages 

 and disadvantages ; and, in order to point out these 

 clearly, and in such a manner as to render the 

 statement of them practically useful to the forester 

 who wishes information, it will be necessary to 

 make a few observations upon each of the systems 

 referred to. 



With regard to the first, — namely, the system of 

 sowing the acorns, or seed of the oak, at once upon 

 the ground where it is intended the trees are to 

 grow up and become timber, — this is, undeniably, 

 acting according to the laws of nature, to which 

 we ought always to attend in the rearing of forest 



