196 SELECTION- WOEKED roEESTS UNDER TEANST'OKMATlOIf, 



is no advantage to be gained by trying to hurry on ;; on the contrary 

 two disadvantages inevitably follow. In the first place, too mucb 

 would thereby be cut during the First Period, a result that must, 

 imperil to a considerable extent the success of the transformation 

 operations. We know of certain silver fir forests that have been 

 thus overworked for only 30 years, and already they have reached 

 such a stage that they can now stand nothing severer than the 

 most circumspect Selection Fellings. In the second place, it is im- 

 possible to form a regular high forest presenting a complete series of 

 graduated age-classes with a curtailed Rotation. 



In the case of Selection-worked forests that are poorly stocked,, 

 it may even be found expedient to put them through a period of 

 special preparation in order to render them capable of being trans- 

 formed. For this purpose, it would be enough to let the stock of 

 a single canton mature on by restricting the Selection Felling* 

 therein to as low a figure as possible, or even by not touching it at 

 all and confining such fellings to the remainder of the Working 

 Circle. After this Preparatory Period the conserved canton may be 

 regenerated under the most favourable conditions and without 

 necessitating the extraction of any considerable quantity of imma- 

 ture timber. 



In most forests worked by Selection there are always som© 

 ■portions, and these very generally young, which have grown up in a 

 regular manner either as the result of accidental circumstances or 

 of Final Regeneration Fellings. To turn such crops to the best 

 account, it is enough if they are placed in the right Block, say, the- 

 last, for instance. But in an ill-stocked Working Circle it is often 

 useful to include these young crops in the First Block,, so that they 

 might together constitute a notable proportion of its area, and there- 

 by render possible the preservation of growing timber on an equal 

 area for one Period more than in the contrary case, often assurinc^ by 

 that means alone the success of the transformation. 



As regards blanks and glades, they ought to be restocked as. 

 soon as possible, whatever their position in respect of time in the 

 General Working Scheme. In silver fir forests this restocking i& 

 usually a very slow operation. Shelter of every kind, whether it be 

 afforded naturally by existing trees, scrub, and bushes, or by pines 



