DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF COMPAETMENTS . 75 



With respect to age, if the crop is composed of two or more dis- 

 tinct stages of growth, the respective ages of these various stages 

 should be given, otherwise only the single figure expressing the 

 general age of the crop. In a copse with standards, it is often suffi- 

 cient, as regards the standards, simply to state that a certain class 

 of reserves is predominant If the age of the crop varies from tree 

 to tree, as would happen in a high forest worked by Selection, the 

 main poiat to determine is at what age it would be expedient to fell 

 the crop considered as a whole. This we will call the dominant age. 

 It does not always depend on the age of the majority of the trees, 

 but here again on rapidity of growth and the relative situation of 

 the trees. 



At times it is necessary to note the origin of the crop. It may 

 be traceable to seedlings or to stool shoots, or even to a mixture in 

 certain proportions of both. It may be the result of the system of 

 tire et aire, or of natural restocking or of artificial reboisement, &c. 

 The history of each crop would be full of the most valuable instruc- 

 tion. As a rule it can seldom be traced any distance back. But it 

 is expedient in a great many cases to mention what operations were 

 last carried out in the compartment described. Occasionally also 

 traces or evidence still remembered may be found of offences and 

 serious damage committed, for instance, of removal of scattered and 

 valuable trees, of loppings that have ruined a growing stock, of offen- 

 ces by graziers or by others repeatedly stripping trees of their leaves. 



The state of growth of the standing stock may be described in 

 one or two words : the growth is either active or slow, sustained or 

 languid, &c. 



The future promise held out by the stock, i. e. the probable 

 period of time during which it will continue in good condition, re- 

 quires a special reference, when its age and state of growth do not 

 afford sufficient information on this head. In the last place, it is ad- 

 visable to indicate in the Field-Book the operations that may be use- 

 fully executed in any given compartment before many years are over. 

 This note, made with regard solely and absolutely to the treatment 

 of the compartment in question, apart from all considerations con- 

 nected with the adjoining crops, refreshes the memory when the in- 

 door work of the Organisation Project begins, and enables the Am^- 

 nagiste to prescribe with confidence the combined treatment of all 



