100 



as to obtain young seedlings sufficiently lighted for proper 

 growth. The extent to which this felling should interrupt 

 the cover would depend on the species constituting the seed- 

 lings, the nature of the soil, and the climatic conditions. 

 Where the cover was only slightly interrupted, the felling 

 would be said to be close ; otherwise it would be an open 

 seed felling. When the crop of seedlings became fairly 

 complete, the young plants, having reached a certain age, 

 would require more light. This would be effected by one 

 or more secondary fellings. A final felling, to remove the 

 trees not cut in the secondary fellings, would be made when 

 the soil was fairly covered with young growth in the thicket 

 stage and had nothing to fear from complete exposure. 

 During the interval between the first and final fellings the 

 young seedlings would be carefully fostered by cleanings. 

 These would be made principally with the object of re- 

 moving or retarding the upward growth of the more vigour- 

 ous but valueless species, which nearly always invade the 

 ground and threaten the existence of the more important 

 kinds. The cleanings would be followed by thinnings, to be 

 continued until the crop was almost mature. In the blocks 

 containing medium-aged crops not yet under regeneration, 

 thinnings would also be carried out, and where, as often 

 happens, overmature trees were scattered through the crop, 

 these would be removed. The thinnings would be made 

 with a view to preparing the crop for regeneration during 

 the period aesigned by the plan for that purpose, and gener- 

 ally with the object of favourising the better trees by the 

 timely removal of less promising stems. Thus, in the block 

 to be regenerated in the following period, only dead and 

 decaying trees would be removed, while in those blocks 

 which were not to be regenerated for a considerable time, 

 all trees over a certain size or age, up to the limits of the 

 capability of the forest, might be felled, provided their 

 removal was sylviculturally desirable in the interests of the 

 trees of the future. 



This is an outline of the manner in which the method of 

 successive fellings is organised when applied to a forest in 

 which crops of all the different age-classes exist in the re- 

 quisite proportions. It rarely happens, even in Europe, 

 where the forests contain distinct age-classes, that the 

 method can be directly applied without some deviation from 

 the ideally correct or normal treatment. Generally speaking. 



