FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



usefulness. Useful material, however, 

 was not the sole consideration. The 

 cutting was intended also to improve 

 the conditions of growth for the trees 

 that remained standing, and to increase 

 the proportion of the species that were 

 most useful or desirable. Finally, by 

 opening up the forest to a proper de- 

 gree of sunlight, the way was prepared 

 for the germination of seeds that might 

 fall from the old trees, in order to pro- 

 vide early for a new generation in the 

 forest. 



It will be readily understood, I be- 

 lieve, that in course of time such a 

 forest would betray to the eye a cer- 

 tain gradation in the sizes of the trees, 

 and a fixed proportion in the number 

 of those belonging to one or another 

 species. To this extent the selection 

 148 



