DETAILED DESCKIPTION OF COMPAKTMENTS. 73 



that of the preceding compartments. But it is expedient to estimate 

 the fertility of the soil by employing the terms very good, good, 

 mediocre, bad, very bad. 



For indeed the fertility of a soil Is not in any sense an absolute 

 quality ; it depends on the species of tree with reference to which it 

 may happen to be considered. ' Thus a soil that is mediocre for the 

 beech may be good for the Scots' Pine and bad for other species ; 

 again a dry and shallow soil would be good, say, for the beech but 

 mediocre for the oak. Thus the fertility of a soil must be judged 

 chiefly by reference to the manner of growth of the species concern- 

 ed, which betrays it at once. It must receive a further qualification, 

 since it varies not only with the nature and the condition itself of 

 the soil, but also with its surroundings, viz. the atmosphere, geologi- 

 cal formation, adjoining soils, and standing crops. This qualification, 

 so to say, sums up the estimate formed after full consideration, of 

 of the two constant factors of production, or, more accurately, of the 

 productive forces of the locality itself. 



It is the description of the standing crop which requires to be 

 most complete of all. And here there may be a great many points 

 to attend to, viz. 



Descriptive technical name. 



Density. 



Component species. 



Age or ages (if different.) 



Origin. 



History. 



State of growth. 



Approximate estimate of promise held out. 



The most suitable treatment. 



The descriptive technical name of the crop expresses in a char- 

 acteristic manner what it is, whether a thicket, saplings, &c., or 

 whether it is in the condition of a copse with standards, or a high 

 forest worked by Selection or simply an irregular mass of forest. 

 This name should give iu a single word a general idea of the whole 

 stock considered in the mass ; and it is only when blanks dotted with 

 scattered trees occur, in which there is no trace of any regular order 

 or uniformity, existing or recently destroyed, that this fact has to be 

 specially mentioned. 



