CONDITION OP OUa SELECTION-WORKED FORESTS 173 



which induce rapid decay in the wood of the species just named. 

 These defects, like the general unsatisfactory condition of the crops, 

 result from the exploitations being spread over too large an area. 

 The consequence is that the damage caused by the felling and 

 export operations is not confined to one locality (in which case it 

 might be easy to repair or mitigate), the commission of all kinds of 

 offences is rendered easy, and the trees that stand out isolated above 

 their neighbours, having their crowns exposed to the full force of 

 the wind, are thereby broken, iiprooted or shaken. Nevertheless, 

 the worst that can be said of silver fir forests worked judiciously by 

 Selection is that they are not regular. 



The Selection System is attended also by another great danger 

 \iz., the exaggeration of the fellings, the end of which may be 

 nothing less than the general ruin of the forest. If the quantity 

 exploited is in excess of actual production, the forest becomes 

 thereby rapidly poorer and poorer. As the fellings remove only 

 the larger trees, it follows that the exploitable material on the 

 ground goes ou diminishing, until eventually there is nothincr lefc 

 in the forest but young saplings and poles. Then the growth becomes 

 sparser and sparser, and the whole fewest at length forms one hufe 

 glade. Should the component species be silver fir, the result is 

 countless windfalls and the utter ruin of the forest. Herein lies the 

 inherent and prohibitive defect of the Selection System. That 

 system is, therefore, entirely out of place in our conifer forests 

 situated at moderate elevations, where the prevailing conditions are 

 sufficiently favorable for regular treatment and prompt and easv 

 regeneration. The Natural Method indeed enables us to utilize the 

 produce of such forests in the most happy manner possible, while 

 avoiding the defects and risks that constitute a necessary element 

 in the Selection System. 



The transformation of a selection-worked forest of silver fir into 

 a regular high forest is eflFected by completing and freeing the 

 young crops overtopped by older growth. It requires three simul- 

 taneous Regeneration Fellings, all within one and the same area 

 and calling for great skill and care on the part of the operator. 

 These Regeneration Fellings we will term Teansformation Cdt- 

 TINGS. The end to be secured by their means is to obtain vounrr 

 crops, which, if they are not at once regular, are at least capable of 



