138 



ance of the local officers. These instructions should not be 

 too elaborate or detailed, but may be drawn up on the sup- 

 position that the officers who carry out the provisions of the 

 plan understand their business and will be responsible for 

 the fellings they make. 



Maample. — The trees are to be felled accordinpf to the principles of the method 

 of selection fellings, subject to the following coiiditious: — 



The prescribed number of trees may be felled annually, or the fellings may be 



carried out, over the whole area to be worked, during three jears and in the 



first or any other year of that period. 

 Ko tree under 6 feet in girth at breast-height may be felled, except in cei-tain 



cases where, in the opinion of the executive offiioer, the tree shows signs of 



premature decay. 

 Isolated trees should not be ielled, unless with the object of clearing away cover 



to help the establishment of seedlings already existing. 



It will generally be advantageous to forecast the condition 

 of the crop at the expiry of the period for which the fellings 

 are prescribed. The condition aimed at would of course be in 

 accordance with the purpose with which the forest is worked ; 

 and the mere formulation of the anticipated condition would 

 serve to illustrate and explain, better than anything else, the 

 nature of the fellings to be made and the immediate object 

 sought in making them. In many cases the best means of 

 indicating in detail (when detail is necessary) the way in 

 which the fellings should be conducted is by means of 

 suggestions recorded in the "remarks column" of the 

 descriptiTe statement for compartments or blocks. 



In some cases it may be desirable to deal at greater 

 length with the fellings to be made — 



Example. — The rest of the periodic block, which contains old fir forest, will be 

 regenerated during the first period by successive fellings, seed, secondary and final. 

 These fellings will be controlled by volume, care being taken to complete, as far as 

 possible, all the seed fellings wiihin the first 12 years of the period. The local 

 officers will execute the regeneration fellings on their own responsibility, in such a 

 way as to secure, with the greatest approach possible to certainty, the natural re- 

 stocking of the ground. The seed fellings should be made close, the cover being 

 raised by pruning the lower branches, care being bestowed on the condition of the 

 surface-soil. Wherever a thick growth of moss, bilberries or heather covers the 

 ground, it should be removed in wid« strips. Should the gi'ound be overrun by her- 

 baceous growth and there is reason to fear that the self-sown seedlings will not 

 thrive, it will be necessary to clean-fell and to re-stock artificially, using the pine as 

 a nurse, and, when the latter is 30 years old, introducing the silver fir and the beech 

 under its shelter. There may chance to be spots where the shelter is sufiicient for 

 the direct rearing of the silver fir, and where the soil is of suflaoient depth and 

 fertility to render unnecessary the expense of using the pine as a nurse. In 

 this case a middle coarse should be followed, and pine and silver fir should be sown 

 in alternate strips. In their early years the pines will protect the firs and may 

 afterwards be gradually extracted in accordance with cultural requirements. Sap- 

 lings and poles that are not vigorous should usually be retained. All those which 

 are too old although yet thriving, that are weedy in appearance, and those in, or 



