420 CONIFERyE. 



equal size and strength ; it therefore becomes necessary 

 to thin out a certain proportion, in order to secure a crop 

 of large timber, and this ought gradually to be effected, 

 as they get too close, and are drawn up too tall and slender 

 for their girth. Thinning, however, ought not to be com- 

 menced too soon, for as the value of Pine timber depends 

 upon its length and cleanness of stem, and as this is pro- 

 duced by the decay and falling off of the lateral branches, 

 the first thinning should not take place until several tiers 

 of the lowermost branches are actually dead, this may 

 then be repeated as often as the trees seem to require 

 additional room and air, until they stand at distances suffi- 

 cient to ensure them reaching their full dimensions. In 

 regard to the question of pruning, or divesting the Common 

 Pine and other Abietinte of their branches, there are 

 different opinions, some recommending the excision of a 

 certain proportion of the living as well as the decayed 

 branches, while others strongly object to the removal of 

 any branches while alive, and would even leave such as 

 had died a natural death to fall of themselves. Of 

 the two opinions here stated we decidedly coincide with 

 the latter, for we consider that the lopping of living 

 branches from any of the Abietinte, is always injurious 

 to the health of the individual, and in regard to branches 

 that have undergone a natural decay we have frequently 

 observed, and particularly in the Piims sylvestris, that 

 the timber of such trees as had naturally freed themselves 

 of their side branches, when cut up, did not exhibit larger 

 knots, or these in a more decayed state, than in trees 

 where the dead branches had been pruned or cut off. 

 Indeed, it will be perceived by attention to the natural 

 process, that where the decayed branches are, as it were, 



